


The Road Goes Ever Ever On

by M_EXO



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Cliche, Fantasy, Fluff, Inaccurate Use Of Korean Terms, M/M, Magic, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-08-01 22:13:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 79,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16292759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_EXO/pseuds/M_EXO
Summary: Though he is born with a very rare magic, Jongdae lives a quiet and quite boring life in the Human Kingdom, dreaming of a time when he can finally leave and travel the rest of the Great Real of Elyxion. When three mysterious fairytale knights show up out of the blue one day, things might just finally change up. Suddenly Jongdae finds himself in a whole new world he had only heard about in stories though he won’t have time to fully enjoy it when the time is running out.





	1. Map of Elyxion

**Author's Note:**

> Guys I'm so excited to finally be posting this! I originally wrote it for R’s eyes only as she had complained about having read all the good XiuChen and I just kinda ran with it so… Here we are, nearly a year later and it evolved into this massive thing. She’s encouraged me to post it here for you guys as well, and I will also be posting it on my [tumblr](https://guardians-of-exo.tumblr.com/post/179037600003/though-he-is-born-with-a-very-rare-magic-jongdae) as well - go check it out, there might be some bonus content you won't find here.  
> I really hope you will like it,
> 
> ~ M

Map of the Great Realm of Elyxion

 

                                                                       


	2. A journey begins

**Chapter I**

**_A journey begins_ **

 

   ”Jongdae!”

The young man sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. Just five more minutes. It was rare for the sun to be out like this, and he wanted to enjoy it for a little longer.

The warmth was soothing and he felt drowsy. A few birds were singing overhead, something you wouldn’t normally hear in the big, bustling capital. If he tried hard enough, it almost felt like he was lying on soft, green grass and not a pile of hay on cobblestone. It almost felt real…

   “Kim Jong _dae_! Come here right now, young man!” His mother’s voice had taken that sharp tone he knew not to mess with.

With another heavy sigh, he slowly sat up and opened his eyes. Dark brown eyes shone in the sun, the rays of light highlighting sharply cut cheekbones. A tuft of rich, chocolate brown hair fell down over his forehead, temporarily shielding his eyes from the piercing light.

   “I’m coming, Eomma!” he called back, trying to hide the whine in his voice. He didn’t want to be scolded any more than he already would be for slacking off. Again.

His mother was waiting for him, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face. For a small woman, she sure could look threatening. She kept glaring disapprovingly at him until he was only a couple of steps away, and he bowed his head slightly as he looked up at her, giving her his best innocent look. Her threatening stare seemed to waver a little, but she shook her head and smacked his arm lightly. “No, don’t you stand there and look innocent. Just because you don’t want to do your chores, doesn’t mean you can just take a nap. We need the firewood to keep the ovens burning, you know we have to be ready for the festival. Now shoo, _shoo_! And don’t come back without a full cart!”

He let out a low whine but she just waved him off and went back inside, slamming the door. The message was clear; without the firewood, he was sleeping outside that night.

Huffing and swearing under his breath, Jongdae grabbed the cart they used to transport baked goods to the town market and headed towards the city borders, towards the forest. It was a fairly large and heavy cart, but the carpenter had made a handy mechanism that helped the cart keep going once it was rolling, making it easier for him to pull almost no matter the weight.

His family owned a bakery close to the city centre and the market, so they were always busy. And with the upcoming festival where it was custom to eat hotteok, business was going to explode soon.

Don’t get him wrong, he loved the family bakery, he just wasn’t sure if it was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life like his parents wanted him to. There was so much more out there.

He finally reached the city borders, sweat now running down his temples and wetting his already messy hair and shirt. The cart was heavier than he remembered, and he now cursed the sun and its warmth.

The guards standing by the big gates looked equally as annoyed by the sun and barely even glanced at his ID card when he passed, not wanting to leave the comfort of the shade. Besides, their job was mostly to not let any unwanted people into the city, so they cared little about who left it.

The forest surrounding the capital was not actually a forest, which was painfully obvious when one looked at it. All of the trees had been planted in perfectly straight lines and rows for as far as the eye could see. They were even divided into sections depending on the tree sort. Because everything was man-made and took a long time to grow, you needed special permits to go and cut anything down. Jongdae’s family had a deal with the city council for a monthly quota because they needed so much wood for their bakery.

It was the only type of forest Jongdae had ever seen since there were no natural forests left in Paneia. Everything had been cultivated and turned into cities, plantations or fields for the farmers.

On this side of the Great Wall, it was all about industry. If you couldn’t make money out of it, there was no point. Most creativity was discouraged unless it was useful. Many Humans had never even left the kingdom, most having no idea what was beyond the Great Wall. They were too busy to go chase fairytales. Not to mention how hard it was to get out of the country. You had to get a special permission from the Government, on which there could be years of waiting time. Not really surprising seeing as those who did leave the kingdom, rarely ever came back. The life beyond the wall was apparently more appealing.

Jongdae had read about the other kingdoms, and he wanted to go there more than anything else. Go beyond the wall and see the vast meadows, the lush forests and the glittering lakes. He wanted to meet the Elves, the Nymphs, the Faeries. See something else than just Humans. See something other than the grey, stone world he lived in.

Paneia had been separated from the other kingdoms thousands of years ago, the Great Wall blocking them completely from every other kingdom. Humans insisted they had built the wall to keep out the ‘flighty and unserious creatures’ as they called anyone the Nature Sprites, while the Sprites of the other kingdoms insisted it had been them who built the wall to keep Humans from destroying any more nature.

Jongdae honestly didn’t care who did what and why, he just wanted to go see it all. Like his older brother. But because his brother was away on his travels, had been for years, Jongdae had to stay behind and help his parents with the bakery. And judging by his brother’s letters, he wasn’t coming back anytime soon. So, Jongdae was stuck.

He let out a groan as he finally got the section where he was allowed to cut their firewood. He was now deep into the plantation, completely alone and unable to even see the wall to the capital. The axe felt way too heavy in his hands and looking up at the massive tree in front of him, he just felt like going back to his haystack and daydreams.

No. No way. There was no way he was going to spend hours chopping up a tree in this heat.

With a glance around to make sure he really was alone, he took a step back and held out his hand towards the tree. Something sparked in him and he closed his eyes to focus. It was rare he tried this, but he was always itching to practice. This was a perfect opportunity.

The spark sizzled in him and spread throughout his body. His breathing got heavier and he furrowed his brows in concentration.

He opened his eyes just as a lightning bolt struck the tree with a deafening crack though the sky above was still a clear, blue colour. The tree split down the middle, then splintered into hundreds of pieces, the ground around its roots scorched black.

Pride swelled in Jongdae’s chest and he couldn’t hold back his excited whoop. He felt so alive!

Sparks crackled between his fingertips and he felt like he was ready to burst with energy. He threw his other hand towards the next tree and again a lightning bolt struck from the clear sky, reducing the tree to kindling. That would be more than enough wood to make his mother happy.

Although he wanted nothing more than to keep doing this, to keep feeling this amazing buzz, Jongdae stifled the sparks in his palm and felt the magic slowly fizzle out of his body and into the ground, leaving an empty feeling behind.

Suddenly feeling a little light-headed, he sat down and leaned against the cart, closing his eyes to make the world stop spinning around him. He would collect the wood once he felt better. Then he could take a nap. His mother wasn’t expecting him back for hours, and it was rare for anyone to ever come all the way out into the plantation where he was. There would be no one to disturb him.

He had first discovered his magic when he turned 14 – that was ten years ago now – and he was still the only one who knew about them. While magic wasn’t just myths and legends in the Great Realm of Elyxion, it was a very rare gift to possess. Very few were born with it, and even fewer managed to teach themselves later in life. People with magic were often referred to as magi, short for magical.

Usually, when someone was revealed to have magic in Paneia, they would get snatched up by the Government, so Jongdae had done everything to keep it a secret. He did not want to end up as a glorified servant of the President. Most of those the Government recruited were never seen again. It was something everyone knew was happening, but no one commented on. Everyone just blindly trusted the Government and the President. Not Jongdae though.

So far, he had been able to create various sizes of lightning bolts – the power increasing every time he tried, as well as his aim. His first time, he had unknowingly and accidentally almost set fire to their shed, having created a spark while stacking hay. Although he had been terrified of this newfound magic, he had also known it was something he couldn’t share with anyone. So he had kept it from everyone, even his family, not even daring to try and use it until many years later, scared he would destroy something or hurt someone.

As he grew older though, he grew bolder as well and sometimes he would sneak out of the city borders to practice.

And one day, he would get out of this dull hellhole and find a place where he wouldn’t have to hide.

⬣

Jongdae was startled awake and sat up abruptly, looking around with still sleep-blurry eyes. There was a crick in his neck and his back was screaming at him for falling asleep sitting up against the cart. He had no idea how long he had been asleep, the sun now hidden behind a thin layer of clouds making it impossible to tell the time.

Whatever had woken him up was quiet now, but he kept still in fear of being found. The near obliterated trees would be hard to explain if anyone found him.

A voice nearby startled him so badly he jumped and hit his elbow on the bottom of the cart. He bit his lip to keep in a groan of pain and held his breath to try and hear what they said.

   “And now you’ve gotten us lost, you idiot!” a voice groaned, sounding exasperated. A boy by the sound of it.

   “Hey! He may be an idiot, but that doesn’t mean you can call him that!” another voice snapped back. Another boy, though his voice was a bit higher pitched. “Respect your elders!”

   “Oi…” a third boy whined. Even though he was whining like a child, his voice sounded very deep compared to the other two. “It’s not my fault everything looks the same here. Why are the trees even like this in the first place? It’s creepy.”

The three continued arguing, their voices coming closer as they neared where Jongdae was hiding. Though still nervous about being seen, he was getting curious as to who they were. Why were they out here? It didn’t seem like they were familiar with plantations, and now that he thought about it, he couldn’t understand what they were saying most of the time, their Common Tongue mixed randomly with a language he didn’t know.

But there was no way outsiders had made it all the way from the Great Wall to the capital. Not without an official escort at least.

The curiosity overriding his fear, Jongdae slowly sat up on his knees and peeked up over the cart. A bit further up ahead stood three figures partly covered by the trees. Two of them were quite tall compared to the third, though it was hard to see as one was standing kind of slouched, shoulders sagging as he appeared to get scolded. Jongdae, unfortunately, couldn’t see any distinctive features on any of the boys as they were blurred out by the shadows.

He watched in amusement as they bickered loudly. It was harder to hear what was being said as they had moved a bit too far away, but it was clear they weren’t agreeing on whatever they were talking about. They didn’t sound angry though, they were arguing much like what he used to do with his own brother.

One of them took a step to the side and ended up with their back facing him, a single ray of light filtering down through the branches to reveal a symbol on their cloak.

A gasp had left Jongdae’s mouth before he had time to even try and stop it, and he quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, ducking back down behind the cart. His heart was pounding, his eyes wide. He willed his mind to keep silent, holding his breath to listen. Had they heard him?

A second passed in complete silence, the only sound being his heartbeat loud in his ears.

Another second. Then they started to bicker again.

He sighed in relief. His thoughts were going crazy. There was no way they were wearing that crest – it was a myth! A fairytale! His eyes must have been playing tricks on him. They had to be. It had seemed so clear though… If he could just get another peek, he could be sure.

As he moved to get back up on his knees, someone cleared their throat behind him. He let out the unmanliest scream and jumped almost a meter into the air, managing to hit his head on the cart.

With his head throbbing and eyes blurry again, he spun around, now face to face with the three boys he had been spying on.

His jaw nearly hit the ground and he wondered just how hard he had hit his head.


	3. The Onyx Lei

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the next chapter ^^ 
> 
> ~ M

**Chapter II**

_**The Onyx Lei** _

 

 

In front of him stood three young men, looking to be around his own age, though they looked nothing like any boys he had ever seen before.

The shortest of them had glittery, silver hair and dark, piercing eyes rimmed with black. His skin was pale, almost seeming translucent, and it was as if he was glowing, a shimmer hovering just above his skin. His face was prettier than even most Human girls, though his glare was quite scary.

Another boy had bright red hair and large, pointed ears sticking out. Warm, round eyes looked at him curiously from a handsome face. His arms and legs seemed almost too long for his body, but it was clear he was very well muscled. He looked to be quite tall, though it was hard to see with the slouch in his shoulders.

The last boy was also fairly tall, though he was lankier than the red-haired one. His hair was blonde, dark roots peeking out at the bottom. His face was beautiful with a sharply cut jaw and slightly glaring eyes. He emitted a sort of energy that almost compelled you to both want to stare and to look away from his dark eyes.

They were most definitely not Human.

But what had Jongdae really wanting to just rub his eyes to see if he was hallucinating, was what they were wearing.

They were all wearing the same uniform; a charcoal long-sleeved tunic with intricate silver details in the linings, black fitted pants, and big, heavy-looking leather boots. Black, silky cloaks hung off their shoulders, fastened over their chest with silver fastenings. On their right hand was a black leather glove, each decorated with a different coloured gem.

The silver fastenings used to hold their cloaks were the same crest he knew was on their back. He was now sure that what he had seen had been right, but he still couldn’t believe it.

It was the Tree of Life. The crest of the famous fairytale knights – The Onyx Lei.

An order of knights known for their skilled use of magic with which they protected the Realm of Elyxion.

But they were supposed to be a fairytale. Something his mother had told him when he was a kid before putting him to bed because she still felt that fairytales were an important part of childhood. She had made up heroic acts of how the knights fought dragons and took down armies of Trolls.

   “I think we broke him,” the blonde boy said, frowning as if disgusted as he looked at a still shocked Jongdae.

The silver-haired boy looked very amused and was about to say something, when the red-haired boy stopped him by placing a hand over his mouth, glaring down at the shorter boy before turning to Jongdae.

   “Uhm… hello,” he said slowly, smiling a bit awkwardly. The other two snorted out a laugh but kept quiet when he glared at them over his shoulder. “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?” he continued, turning to Jongdae like nothing had happened.

   “I’m okay,” Jongdae finally managed to get his mind and mouth working. “Who are you?” Well, mostly working. Just not together.

He had a million questions waiting to be asked, but his mouth had just blurted out the first one he thought of. To be honest though, if they really were the Onyx Lei, they weren’t… quite what he had expected of the legendary knights. They seemed very young and, well, immature.

   “Ah uhm, my name is Park Chanyeol,” the red-haired boy bowed politely with a wide smile, reminding Jongdae vaguely of a puppy. He pointed at the silver-haired boy and then the blonde. “This is Byun Baekhyun and Oh Sehun. It’s nice to meet you…?”

   “Kim Jongdae,” Jongdae said, bowing as a reflex though he didn’t take his eyes off of them. Their names weren’t quite the answer he was looking for, but he didn’t get a chance to ask again before Sehun spoke up.

   “Are you sure we should be telling him our names?” he said, narrowing his eyes at Jongdae, who felt a chill run down his spine. If looks could kill…

   “I’m sure it’s fine,” Chanyeol sighed, glancing at Jongdae apologetically.

   “Can we get to the point please?” Baekhyun spoke for the first time now his mouth was free, sounding annoyed. He was standing with his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently. The sunlight reflected off of a pale, almost iridescent gem on his glove. “We do have somewhere to be.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened as if he had forgotten why they approached Jongdae in the first place. He nodded his head and suddenly looked serious. “We have to get into Dorwall for some official business but we seem to have gotten lost.”

Beside him, Baekhyun sniggered but Chanyeol paid him no mind once again and continued. “Is it possible you could point us in the right direction?”

   “Sure,” Jongdae agreed slowly. What in the world was going on? Who were they and what did they need in the capital? Without an escort, it couldn’t possibly be something with the President. He had so many questions, and he felt so curious he could burst with it. He needed to know. Mostly to stifle his curiosity, but also because he didn’t want to let anyone dangerous into his city.

   “But first, are you really… _The_ Onyx Lei?”

The three boys stared at him for a second, seemingly dumbfounded at his question, and for a second he felt stupid even asking it. Of course they weren’t, they didn’t really exist. The uniforms must just be really similar.

   “Is he stupid or something?” Baekhyun asked when realizing Jongdae was actually serious. He turned to the two others. “I think he’s actually stupid. Let’s go find someone else to help us.”

Chanyeol frowned as Sehun agreed to what Baekhyun had just said, but even he glanced at Jongdae weirdly. Jongdae just frowned at them and crossed his arms defensively. He did not like being made fun of like that. If they didn’t want people to think they were knights, they shouldn’t wear the damn uniforms.

   “Uhm, yes. We are,” Chanyeol eventually said, vaguely gesturing to the emblem on his chest.

And… that wasn’t what Jongdae had expected him to say. Honestly, he was starting to think he was dreaming. It was too bizarre to be actually happening. There was no way these boys could actually be the Onyx Lei, someone was just playing a very elaborate prank on him.

Just as Jongdae had convinced himself it was all just some joke, Chanyeol held out his right hand palm up, a blood red gem glittering on his glove, and lit a small flame out of nothing. It flickered in the light breeze, hovering just above his palm. Jongdae stared at the orange flame is if hypnotized.

So they really were the Onyx Lei. They were actually real.

   “You’re not just a fairytale then?” he blurted out, blinking a little dazed as Chanyeol stifled the flame by closing his hand, then looked up to find them all staring at him like he was crazy.

   “Excuse me, what?” Baekhyun snapped, sounding immensely offended. “A fucking fairy-? Do we _look_ like a fairytale to you? You know what? I’ll show you fairytale!”

For a second the silver-haired boy’s eyes flashed white and it seemed the shimmer around him intensified. The intense stare he was giving Jongdae was enough to make him take a step back. For a delicate-looking boy, he sure was scary.

Fortunately, before he could do anything, Chanyeol stepped forward and stopped him, putting a calming hand on the smaller boy’s arm. He mumbled something in a language that Jongdae didn’t understand but it seemed to calm Baekhyun down as the shimmer dimmed once again.

Sehun rolled his eyes at the two of them as if it was a normal occurrence, then turned to Jongdae, looking at him through narrowed eyes. As if bored he reached up to scratch his nose, a green gem on his glove catching the sunlight for a second. Jongdae briefly wondered if the colour had anything to do with their powers. Sehun sized him up for a second, Jongdae suddenly feeling the need to straighten his back.

   “Human, right?” he drawled although he already knew the answer, only letting Jongdae nod before continuing. “You seem surprised to see us.”

   “I just didn’t expect for you to be real,” Jongdae admitted, trying his best to return the superior stare the other boy was giving him. He was feeling slightly nervous being outnumbered three to one, now also knowing they were magi, but he did have one trick up his sleeve. They had no idea that he was also a magi, they wouldn’t be expecting him to be one, so if it came to it, he could use the moment of surprise to hopefully overpower them enough to at least get away.

He already knew Chanyeol had fire magic, but with the other two, it could be anything so he had to be absolutely sure it was the right time before he revealed himself. Hopefully, they would reveal themselves first.

He was still more curious than anything though. If they were real, what else was out there that had been kept from them in Paneia?

   “I’ve only ever heard about you in the fairytales Eomma used to tell me when I was a kid. The Onyx Lei is a myth, that’s what I’ve been told all my life.”

For a second Sehun’s eyebrows raised in surprise, the first real emotion he had shown other than the condescending smirk, but it was gone after only a second. The other two openly gaped at him though.

   “Well, we’re very obviously real,” Baekhyun huffed, rolling his eyes as Chanyeol once again shushed him. Baekhyun muttered something under his breath, and though Jongdae didn’t understand it, he knew it was probably not very nice.

   “So, you’re saying that Humans have no idea we exist?” Chanyeol asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “But… how?”

   “Most don’t if I have to guess. We don’t exactly spend our time on fairytales. I guess some people might know you if they’ve been told the same stories I was.”

   “But don’t you have books? Someone who’s seen us? We’re not exactly hiding out there,” Chanyeol had stepped closer to him now in his eagerness to get answers, towering over Jongdae, and while he didn’t look that scary, Jongdae still felt a little intimidated by his height.

   “No books about you. Like I said, we don’t do fairytales. It’s a waste of time if you ask our Government. And most Humans who leave the kingdom don’t come back. It’s not exactly the most exciting place to live.” Jongdae shrugged but was starting to feel a little uneasy with it all.

Why _would_ the Government hide this? It’s not like the knights were harmful – as far as he knew anyway – and they weren’t the only ones with magic. There was no reason why people couldn’t know they existed. It didn’t make any sense.

   “Humans are fucking stupid,” Baekhyun mumbled, just loud enough for Jongdae to hear, but he didn’t comment on it. He didn’t want to set the other boy off, and he seemed agitated enough already. Sparks crackled between his fingertips and he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, but he quickly squashed the feeling. Now was not the time, though he would be more than happy to try and zap away that shitty attitude.

Who would have thought the legendary Onyx Lei were brats?

   “Whether they know us or not is no matter,” Sehun said after a while, a decisive tone to his voice. “We still need to get to your capital, so could you please just point us in the right direction, and we’ll leave you to… whatever you were doing.” He once again gave Jongdae a once-over, not even trying to hide the slight grimace on his face. He clearly shared the same views on Humans as Baekhyun.

   “How did you get an entrance permit?” Jongdae asked, ignoring the urge to punch Sehun. It seemed they thought they could just waltz up and get into Dorwall. There was no chance the Government had given them any kind of permit to get into the kingdom – let alone the capital.

   “An entrance permit?” Chanyeol asked, head snapping up.

   “Yes, to get into the city? You need a permit or they won’t let you through the wall.” They should really know something like this.

The three knights shared an uneasy look and mumbled some words in the other language. It was quite clear they had no idea what he was talking about. His suspicions about them being here unauthorized were confirmed. They must somehow have gotten through the Great Wall without anyone noticing, and even managed to make it all the way to the capital unseen. Had anyone seen them in those uniforms, word would have spread and they would have been caught by now.

It was actually quite impressive seeing as they hadn’t even tried to hide, not knowing they shouldn’t be seen.

   “So there’s another wall?” Chanyeol looked nervous and Jongdae suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. They made fun of him for not knowing about them, when they clearly knew nothing about the Human Kingdom.

   “Around the capital, yes. But you should have an entrance permit from when you got into the kingdom. Through the Great Wall. You can just use that.” Jongdae knew fully well they had no entrance permit and that they hadn’t gotten through any official gates to get into the kingdom, but he was so curious to know how they did it.

   “The Great Wall?” Sehun scoffed, rolling his eyes. “We just jumped that. The nearest checkpoint was too far.”

   “You jumped the wall…” Jongdae repeated, dumbfounded. That wall was several stories high. It must have been magic. Was there such thing as a jumping magic? But even if they did manage to jump the Great Wall, they wouldn’t be able to do that at Dorwall. There were too many people and too great a risk of being spotted.

   “We did. Now for the last time, are you going to show us the way to your capital or not?” Sehun demanded, clearly getting fed up with the small talk.

   “And perhaps a way in?” Chanyeol added, though much more politely.

And well… what exactly _should_ Jongdae do now? They had said nothing about what they needed in the capital and something told him they weren’t up for any more questions.

The Onyx Lei he knew would never hurt someone, but there was no telling what the real knights were like, although they did seem pretty harmless. They could have hurt him to get the information they wanted in less than half the time they had spent talking. Had they wanted to hurt him, they would have done so by now. And honestly, this was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him, as sad as that was. This was the perfect opportunity to finally do something even just a little bit thrilling.

All he had to do was get them through the wall, and the guards already knew who he was, so they wouldn’t even bother checking him. It would almost be too easy.

What did he have to lose really?

   “Okay, I’ll help,” he agreed. Chanyeol thanked him profusely while all he got out of Sehun and Baekhyun was a vague smile. Well, it was better than nothing.

   “But you can’t go in there looking like that,” he continued, making them all look down themselves in confusion. “No one knows you exist, but someone might recognize you as I did, and I’m not sure the Government wants you creeping around the capital.”

They didn’t move to do anything, just stood there looking at each other and Jongdae suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. “Could you just turn your cloaks inside out or something at least?” he sighed. “Hide the emblem on your chest and take off your gloves. Your clothes can’t be helped but I don’t think people will full recognize you without your crest.”

Finally, they listened to him and quickly did as he said. With their cloaks now all black and the silver crest hidden away in their pockets, their clothes could pass as some sort of work uniform. Maybe not the most normal clothes in Paneia, but he was sure no one would connect the boys to the Onyx Lei without the crest. At worst, someone would think they vaguely reminded them of someone.

Their hoods would hide the fact that the boys were definitely not Human as long as no one looked them right in the face. Outsiders were rare and three being spotted would surely be noticed by the Government.

   “Now what?” Baekhyun asked once they were as disguised as possible. “How are you going to get us in?”

Jongdae smiled and reached out to pat his cart. It was large enough to hide them under the wood without it looking obvious. His mother would be furious he wasn’t coming back with a full cart, but he would gladly a scolding if it meant doing something this exciting.

The knights didn’t look too excited about his idea though, staring at the cart with barely hidden disgust.

   “You’re gonna put us in that?” Baekhyun wrinkled his nose, mouth twisted in a grimace. “And hide us with what?”

   “Firewood,” Jongdae replied, enjoying how their faces went from vaguely disgusted to horrified. They hadn’t exactly been nice to him, so it was nice with some payback. “It’s why I’m out here. Eomma is probably expecting me back soon, so if you could help me fill the cart that would be nice.”

He walked over to the singed trees and began picking up the wood, throwing it into the cart. There was a couple of seconds where the knights just stared at him as if deciding whether or not they were actually going to go through with his plan, but he ignored them and eventually they started helping him. They must have realized he was their best bet in getting in.

They worked in silence, working up a sweat as they slowly but surely got the cart filled. They left the back part of it bare to make room for the knights to sit. Once in a while, the knights would exchange glances and silent conversations, but Jongdae paid them no mind.

   “Hey…” Chanyeol suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence. “What did you do to the tree? This definitely wasn’t chopped up, it’s completely splintered. It almost looks burned… even the ground is all black.”

Jongdae froze for a second. He had hoped that since they had taken so long to notice, it meant they weren’t going to mention it. He still didn’t trust them enough to tell them that he was a magi as well. He didn’t really know why, but there was just something in him telling him to wait.

He shrugged and faked a slightly awkward laugh, cringing inside at how shrill it sounded. “I know, it’s weird, right? I just found it like this, but it makes my job a lot easier so I’m not gonna question it.”

As he continued working, he could feel their eyes on his back and he admittedly started feeling nervous. Did they not believe him? His body tensed up and he clenched his fists, feeling sparks crackle.

For a painfully long moment, it was as if they were all frozen in place, not even breathing, sizing each other up. His heart hammered away in his chest, almost loud enough to hear. Then he heard Sehun mumble something in another language and the three started working again. The tension slowly seeped out of his body again. They must have believed him enough to let it go for now at least.


	4. Into Dorwall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will get more exciting soon you guys, I promise ~   
> ~ M

**Chapter III**

_**Into Dorwall** _

 

Once again, they worked in silence as the sun started going down, the shadows growing longer. Once in a while, Baekhyun let out a loud, dramatic sigh to show his displeasure with it all, only to pout when realizing the other two ignored him completely. Chanyeol would smile fondly every time it happened while Sehun just rolled his eyes.

From an outside perspective, their friendship was fascinating. It was obvious they were close, though they bickered more than anything. And honestly… Jongdae was kind of jealous. He had friends, sure, people he knew from school and their neighbour who was around his own age, but there was no one who truly knew him. Everyone his age was too focused on finding the perfect career, the perfect path for the rest of their lives while he just… didn’t really care that much. People usually found him a little odd.

He glanced over his shoulder when he heard a laugh. Baekhyun had apparently gotten a splinter in his finger and was sticking his hand in Chanyeol’s face to make him remove it while Sehun laughed at his pain.

Jongdae wondered what it felt like to have someone you could truly be yourself with.

A prick in his finger brought him back from his thoughts and he rolled his eyes at himself as he picked out the splinter. There was no use getting all emotional.

He shook it off and turned to look at the cart. Filling it any more would probably make it almost impossible for him to pull, even with the helping mechanism, and there was enough firewood to hide the knights.

He called for them to stop and they gathered by the cart. Baekhyun’s nose wrinkled, but he didn’t protest as Chanyeol helped him up into the cart first. Chanyeol then got into it as well, but Sehun didn’t move an inch.

   “You’re really gonna be able to pull that?” he asked, eyeing the cart and Jongdae doubtingly.

   “Of course,” Jongdae huffed. “Once I get it going, there’s a mechanism that helps to keep it rolling. Now get on, we gotta go. It’s getting dark.”

Sehun wrinkled his nose and eyed the cramped space between Baekhyun and Chanyeol. And yeah, it would be a very tight fit but he couldn’t exactly be picky. Comfort wasn’t really a choice when hiding in a firewood cart.

Chanyeol suddenly said something that Jongdae didn’t understand, to which Baekhyun began protesting loudly. Some Common Tongue mixed with his native language and Jongdae caught something about injustice and Sehun having to suffer if they had to. Jongdae had no idea what was going on, but it seemed Sehun liked whatever Chanyeol had said as he smiled for the first time since Jongdae had met him.

And just like that, with a crack and a cloud of glitter, he disappeared. Jongdae blinked in disbelief. Blinked again and realized that Sehun hadn’t actually disappeared. He had shrunk. He was a fucking Faery!

Jongdae had expected him to be an Elf because of his height or maybe a Nymph as he was pretty enough to be one. Faery wings weren’t visible when in their Human form, so he hadn’t even considered the option.

Sehun made himself comfortable on Chanyeol’s shoulder, his laughter very high pitched as Baekhyun whined loudly about the unfairness of it all. The Faery pulled playfully on Chanyeol’s ear, Jongdae once again noticing how pointy they were. Chanyeol must be an Elf then. He had read somewhere that Elves were supposed to be regal and graceful, and though it didn’t quite fit the Chanyeol he had seen so far, he was still pretty sure.

And since Baekhyun hadn’t shifted, he clearly wasn’t a Faery. An Elf… Jongdae didn’t think so; though his ears were big they weren’t pointy like Chanyeol’s. That left out Nymph. He had the beauty to be one, sure, Nymphs being said to be the most beautiful creatures in the whole kingdom, but Nymphs were also supposed to be happy gentle Sprites. And well…

Maybe they were all just exceptions to the norms? A lot like he wasn’t exactly like most Humans…

   “Come on. Let’s get this over with,” Baekhyun called, wiggling around uncomfortably.

Jongdae quickly piled some firewood on top of the knights to cover them up. It did look a little off compared to the rest of the cart, but he was pretty sure the guards wouldn’t notice. If it were the same two who were usually there, they wouldn’t even bother looking at the cart before letting him in. They had gotten tired of searching through firewood after the two first weeks when he had started making wood runs.

It took a good amount of effort to get the cart rolling and Jongdae was suddenly grateful that Sehun had shrunk himself – less weight for him to pull.

He was getting a bit out of breath as he slowly but surely made his way back towards the city. The closer he came, the more exhilarated he started to feel. He was actually doing this. He was actually, really about to smuggle outsiders into Dorwall – the second most protected city in Paneia supposedly. The Onyx Lei at that. Knights, the Government for some reason wanted to cover up. It almost felt like a weird fever dream.

When he finally reached the wall, he felt a small pang of nervousness as the guards opened the gates for him. It turned out to be completely unwarranted though as they barely glanced his way before they waved him through, both looking like they would rather do literally anything but their job. He nodded politely as he passed them. They were in.

Now… where did he take them? He couldn’t exactly stop and ask them now without looking like a lunatic talking to a cart. There were too many people around still. He would have to take them home, they had a closed courtyard where it would be easier to get them out of the cart without being spotted. Then they could figure out what to do from there.

He started heading the familiar way home, nodding and smiling at everyone he passed as usual though he was still feeling a little nervous. There were a lot of people around which meant it was easier getting discovered.

It felt like an eternity until his house finally came into view. It had been slightly uphill for a while and he was losing his breath, sweat dripping down his temple. Even with the helping mechanism, it was still very heavy to pull. The knights so owed him for this,

He snuck into the courtyard as much as one could sneak with a large cart rolling over cobblestone, hoping his parents were making enough noises in the kitchen so they wouldn’t hear it. To make it easier for the knights, he parked it right up against their shed’s open door.

   “Oi,” he whispered. “There’s a door behind you. Go through that and hide there for now.”

The firewood slowly came to life and Baekhyun and Chanyeol burst through like coming up for air after having been underwater. Jongdae helped them remove some wood to make it easier for them to get up. Chanyeol was the first to break free and manage to crawl out of the cart, a miniature Sehun still sitting comfortably on his shoulder. The red-haired Elf reached up and picked Baekhyun up like he weighed nothing. The smaller boy looked one second away from a hissy-fit, his face twisted, hair sticking up all over the pace and clothes dusty and dishevelled.

   “Kim Jongdae, is that you?” his mother’s voice boomed out over the courtyard from the open window. “You better have an excuse for being this late, young man. Have you been sleeping again?”

   “Fuck,” Jongdae hissed, pushing the knights into the shed just as his mother burst through the front door.

   “It’s me Eomma,” he called back, spinning around to face the thunderstorm that was his mother. “I’m sorry about the time, I lost track. But I got enough wood!”

She stared him down for a second then looked back over her shoulder as Jongdae’s father called for her. “You better be happy we’re busy. Now stack that wood and get your behind in here, alright?”

She slammed the door before he could say anything for the second time that day. He shivered at the thought of the scolding he knew he was going to get later. Especially since he had no plans of actually stacking the wood if he could help the knights some more. If his brother could just fuck off for years, he could skip work for one day.

He quickly let himself into the shed where the knights were mumbling to each other in that weird mix of languages they sometimes did, mixing up the Common Tongue with other languages. It was like they didn’t even notice they were doing it. But since their native languages were all different, this must be the easiest way for them to communicate. They stopped talking as he entered.

   “Your mom seems nice,” Baekhyun sniggered, Sehun doing that mocking smirk of his.

   “Really scary,” Chanyeol grinned before snorting out a laugh.

   “Yeah yeah, whatever,” Jongdae huffed though he could feel his ears getting warm from embarrassment. ”Did you need anything else?”

   “Actually, could you maybe get us to where your Government is? We’ve realized we don’t actually know where it is and it’ll be faster and safer if someone familiar with the city helps us. If what you say is true, we don’t want to get spotted.” Chanyeol looked at him hopefully and Jongdae felt a surge of excitement. His adventure wasn’t over yet.

   “I can get you there,” he said confidently. Now he was the one in charge. He knew the ins and outs of the city so they would have to listen to him. “You need to keep your hoods up and heads down. Follow me and don’t talk to anyone, they’ll hear you’re not from here. Okay?”

Though Baekhyun and Sehun didn’t look too pleased with taking orders from him, all three of the knights nodded.

Jongdae led the boys out of the shed and into the small opening into the street. He told them to wait there and quickly ran up to his house, opening the door. “Eomma! I’m gonna have to go out for a while. I promise to stack the wood later. I’m sorry, I love you!” He closed the door and ran away before his mother could catch him. The knights sniggered but he ignored them. They would be scared too if they had felt the wrath of his mother.

The four of them headed into the streets. With the dusk and dark shadows, it was easy to sneak along the narrow alleyways without attracting too much attention. A few people recognized him from the bakery and greeted him, Jongdae doing his best to seem normal as he greeted them back.

Though they were trying to keep to the smaller streets, there were still a lot of people around. The lights were on in many of the buildings they passed, people still hard at work though it was past dinnertime.

The Government building towered over them in the distance, being the highest point in the capital, built on top of a hill. It was actually quite hideous if you asked Jongdae. It was basically a huge, grey square with a few odd angles sticking out. Plain and boring like everything else in the kingdom.

It seemed the knights were thinking the same as him. They were looking around with barely concealed shock. Their eyes were wide as they took in all the grey.

   “There is no green here,” Baekhyun whispered, eyes filled with sadness as he ran his hand over one of the building walls. “I can’t feel the nature at all. There’s nothing. I hate it.”

Chanyeol reached out and grabbed Baekhyun’s other hand, smiling softly down at him before glancing curiously at Jongdae. “You really did cover everything with stone,” he mused. “I thought they were exaggerating when they told us about this place.”

   “And why are people still at work?” Sehun asked, peering into a window where several people were still slaving over towers of paperwork. “Why aren’t they home with their families?”

   “That’s just how it is here,” Jongdae said quietly, eyes fixed on the workers. That was his future. Either take over the bakery or slave over a desk job until he was too tired to even read. It scared him more than he wanted to admit. “We work. That’s what we do. Everything else is a waste of time. That’s what they say anyway. But I hate it. Had it not been for my family, I would have left years ago.”

He had never said those thoughts out loud, had never even let himself fully think them, but now he had actually said it, he realized how much he meant it.

The knights were silent and he glanced up to find them looking at him with… pity? Even Sehun and Baekhyun had lost the usual edge of disgust in their eyes. Now they just looked sorry for him. Though he didn’t want or need their pity, didn’t want them to see him vulnerable, it was nice to finally say his thoughts out loud to someone who actually understood him. Who could see how faulty this whole system was.

He shrugged and cleared his throat awkwardly, gesturing for them to keep going. As Chanyeol passed him, he briefly placed a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder and sent him a warm smile which Jongdae returned. Maybe they weren’t so bad after all.


	5. Unexpected Help

**Chapter IV**

_**Unexpected Help** _

 

   ”So, how do we get in?” Baekhyun asked, craning his neck back to look up at the enormous building in front of them. From this angle, they could see nothing but grey wall almost no matter where they looked as they were currently hiding in one of the small nooks of the Government building.

Okay, so maybe Jongdae hadn’t actually thought that far yet. He had to buy some time to come up with some kind of plan. They were well hidden, for now, so he just needed to get them distracted for a couple of minutes.

An idea popped into his head in form of a question he had wanted to ask since he first saw them. “Before we do this, can I finally know what you’re actually doing here?” he asked. “I feel like I should know before I help you break into our Government building.”

The Sprites shared a look, having a silent conversation with their eyes. Chanyeol nodded and turned fully towards Jongdae.

   “A few weeks ago, some Human explores came to my kingdom. They said they wanted to learn about our culture so my King granted them access. They stayed with us for a couple of days, then vanished without a trace. And with them disappeared our most prized treasure, _Solas Na Gealaich_. Or A Drop Of Moonlight in your tongue. A gemstone most precious to us Elves. We have received information that your Government keeps it with them, and we were sent to get it back. My King felt that publicly accusing them of theft could start a war, but if we manage to steal it back, your Government won’t be able to do anything about it without revealing themselves.”

   “But… why would they steal it?” Jongdae wondered, mostly to himself. It didn’t make any sense. Why would they need a gemstone they couldn’t make any money with?

   “We don’t know why and we don’t care, we just want it back,” Chanyeol said seriously, for the first time looking like what Jongdae had imagined the Onyx Lei would be like – serious, regal and slightly intimidating. “It’s very important to us.”

   “Of course, I’ll do whatever I can,” Jongdae said, meaning every word. He couldn’t defend the actions of his Government, couldn’t even fathom why they would even steal it in the first place. The only thing he could do was to restore even just a tiny bit of the knights’ faith in the Human race and help them get it back. It was the right thing to do.

   “Ah, Jongdae-ssi? What are you doing here?” a voice suddenly spoke up behind them, making them all jump and spin around, Jongdae’s heart feeling like it was in his throat.

In front of them, lightly lit up by a nearby torch, stood a young man around their age. He was wearing a fancy suit, his brown hair combed neatly into a small quiff and a pair of glasses perched on his nose.

   “Junmyeon-ssi,” Jongdae said, quickly bowing as he recognized his neighbour.

Kim Junmyeon was only a year older than him, but he was already miles ahead career-wise. He had barely finished school before he had already landed a job at the Government. Jongdae’s parents had always gushed about how ‘great a boy’ he was. And while he was actually really nice, having always been super friendly to Jongdae, he was a bit of a stick in the mud. A typical career-driven Human.

   “It’s been a while,” Junmyeon continued happily, completely unaware of the fright he had caused them. “How are you? You’ll be busy soon I suppose, with the festival and all. I’ll be sure to stop by and get some of your Uhmuni’s hotteok.”

   “I... yeah, I’ve been out all day collecting wood for the ovens,” Jongdae answered dumbly, his mind not knowing how to deal with this sudden change of events. Junmyeon was sure to ask if he wanted to walk home together and he needed an excuse to say no. He needed him to go away before he became aware of the knights. He would surely try and introduce himself, getting suspicious when the boys wouldn’t show their faces. He worked for the Government, he could ruin everything for them.

   “You work so hard, Jongdae,” Junmyeon praised, Jongdae once again surprised by how friendly he was despite them barely knowing each other. “I could never do what you do. I’m much more of a paper-pusher than an outdoor type of guy. Though I do wish I at least had a window in my office, it gets kind of stuffy in there and – ah?”

He stopped midsentence and Jongdae saw the older boy’s eyes move from him to something over his shoulder. He had spotted the knights.

   “Ah, I’m so sorry, how rude of me!” Junmyeon rushed out and bowed politely. “I’m Kim Junmyeon. It’s very nice to meet you.”

The three knights bowed back awkwardly, mumbling a greeting but didn’t say anything too loud as Jongdae had asked. Their accents would give them away immediately. Though Junmyeon did look at them curiously, he didn’t say anything, only smiled politely. But as he got to look over them, his face slowly changed. Jongdae could feel himself tensing up – he did not want to hurt the older boy, but he couldn’t let him turn them in either. He could hear the knights shifting behind him and he hoped they wouldn’t attack.

   “I thought you might show up sooner or later,” Junmyeon then said. A cold feeling washed over Jongdae his thoughts swirling in confusion. How did he recognize them? How did he know they were even coming?

Tenseness rolled off the knights behind him at being recognized. After learning from Jongdae that the Government didn’t want them around, they were probably already coming up with ways to escape. He just hoped they would do that without doing anything to Junmyeon, he was one of the only decent Humans Jongdae knew.

   “You should have tried to disguise yourself a bit more,” Junmyeon continued, unaffected by the stress they were feeling. “But that can’t be helped now. Follow me, quickly now, we gotta get you off the street.”

He turned on his heel and marched off without even checking if they were following. Jongdae turned and was met with three bewildered faces staring at him. There wasn’t much time to react – should they trust Junmyeon? He did work for the Government so he could get them inside, but he could also turn on them. His gut feeling told him to trust the older boy, so before the Sprites could ask any questions, he just nodded, eyes begging them to trust him.

Junmyeon was already quite far ahead so Jongdae had to jog to catch up to him. To his relief, he could hear three pairs of footsteps follow behind him. They had decided to trust him. Now he just hoped he had been right in trusting Junmyeon. For all he knew, they could be walking into a trap, but he just couldn’t see his neighbour betraying him. Perhaps it was stupid and naïve of him since he actually didn’t know Junmyeon that well, but there was no turning back now. And he was one of their only chances at getting inside - Jongdae certainly hadn’t been able to come up with another idea. This had to work.

They followed Junmyeon in heavy silence as he led them around the enormous Government building. Not once did he look back or acknowledge them. All they could do was try and keep up with his brisk pace.

He turned a corner and stopped abruptly, Jongdae nearly running into his back. Slightly hidden in another nook was a door, and Junmyeon walked right up and opened it.

   “Come on now, quickly.”

Praying to whoever might be listening that this was going to go smoothly, Jongdae walked through the door.

The inside was as bare and grey as the outside. Bare-walled corridors lit only by a couple of torches went on for what seemed like forever, breaching out into an endless amount of other corridors. This place was like a mace. How were they ever going to find anything?

Their five pairs of footsteps bounced off the granite walls, creating an eerie choir of echoes. It almost seemed as if the sound travelled all around the building and caught up to them again from behind, creating the illusion of them being surrounded. The hair on the back of Jongdae’s neck was standing on end and he felt small sparks sizzle through his veins. He felt so claustrophobic, it was almost suffocating. There were no windows to ease the pressure of the narrow corridors.

He glanced behind him. Sehun was walking directly behind him, almost by his side had he been half a step closer. His face was set in tight lines, his narrowed eyes fixed firmly on Junmyeon’s back. Trailing behind him was Chanyeol and Baekhyun, hands joined between them. Baekhyun’s face was pinched, looking almost like he was in pain. His eyes were squeezed shut and his knuckles white from gripping Chanyeol’s hand so tight. The Elf was focused on leading the way, though his eyes kept flickering to the smaller boy, worry all over his face.

Jongdae actually felt sorry for the Nymph - no matter how annoying he was.

Finally, Junmyeon stopped and opened a door, gesturing for them to enter. This time not even hesitating, Jongdae entered followed by the knights.

They found themselves in a small, cramped office. Filled to the brim bookshelves lined every wall and a large desk took up most of the floor space. Junmyeon lit the candlestick on his desk and closed the door, leaving them all in a shadowy darkness.

With Junmyeon’s serious expression and the shadows cast from the candlelight, the boy looked like a completely different person. He actually looked quite scary. If he showed any surprise at seeing the knights weren’t Human as they pulled down their hoods, he didn’t show it.

   “You know who we are,” Sehun stated, eyeing Junmyeon distrustfully. “And you know why we’re here? How?”

   “I recognized you because of your uniforms. I’ve heard stories about you when I was a kid, and they have some files on you here. You really should have hidden better,” Junmyeon said, sending a disapproving look their way before continuing. “As for why you’re here, I knew the Government had sent someone on a business trip a couple of weeks ago, but they didn’t tell anyone why. It was only some days ago it was told they had brought something back, something valuable. I did some snooping around and found out it was some kind of gem. When I asked about it, one of the people who went on the trip was dumb enough to brag about how they stole it from right under the nose of the Elves.”

Chanyeol visibly bristled but let Junmyeon continue. “I have no idea why they would want it though. They’ve kept it locked up and guarded since it came back, but people are going in and out of the room all the time. Secret files are passed around. I think they might be planning something. I figured the Elves would send someone from the order to get it back.”

He looked at Chanyeol, “Can you think of any reason why someone would steal it?”

   “I don’t know,” Chanyeol shrugged, though still fuming. “The gem itself is not that valuable I don’t think, but it’s been a tradition for us since the beginning of time to hold a ceremony for newborns where they are blessed with love and protection while holding the gemstone. The gem does have one special gift though, it can tell whether or not whoever holds it will have a potential for magic later in life. If you have the potential, or already have magic, it will light up. It helps us choose what to train the kids for as they grow up. I don’t see why Humans would want it though.”

Jongdae’s eyes met Junmyeon’s. It revealed magi? And magi just happened to disappear once they were recruited in Paneia. There had to be a connection, it was too much of a coincidence. The Government had never been interested in magic they couldn’t exploit in some way. But for what?

   “I don’t know why either, but I think there is something bigger going on,” Junmyeon said, voicing Jongdae’s thoughts. “It’s why I started working here. Magi have been hired by the Government the second their abilities were revealed, only for them to disappear. People think they’re just sent outside the wall on business, but it just seems off to me. I haven’t been able to find anything yet and I was beginning to wonder if I was imagining things, but this has to be connected. Whatever they might be planning, I don’t think it’s anything good. Otherwise, they wouldn’t hide it.”

The knights shared a look as Junmyeon and Jongdae did the same. They probably didn’t care much about what Humans were doing, but it was clear something was off, and Jongdae didn’t like it. Junmyeon was right, whatever they were up to wasn’t anything good. The Government usually didn’t wait to brag about what big plans they had for the future of the kingdom. And when most of their workers didn’t even seem to know what was going on, it was definitely not a good sign.

There was a reason the Government stole the gemstone, and Jongdae had to help the knights steal it back before the Humans could get the chance to use it for whatever they needed it for. And like Chanyeol had said, the Government couldn’t do anything about the gem being stolen from them. They just had to actually steal it and get away with it. Easy.

   “So, you’re going to help us get it back?” Sehun asked.

   “And can we get out of here soon?” Baekhyun whined, his eyes still squeezed shut. “I’m dying here, what is Humans’ problem with plants anyway?”

   “We’ll help you get it,” Junmyeon promised as he walked over to a cupboard. He nonchalantly opened the cabinet door, pulled out an actual potted plant like it was completely normal and handed it to Baekhyun. “I know it’s not much, but it’s all I’ve got. Not much can grow in this environment.”

Baekhyun blinked a couple of times, staring at the small plant in wonder. He caressed the leaves softly. “No, I… thank you, this helps.” And he did actually already look a little better. Jongdae had read somewhere that Nymphs had a deep connection to nature, but he had no idea it was this literal. Once again, he found himself feeling sorry for the Sprite, he must be feeling horrible in this city without any nature close by.

   “The gem is guarded,” Junmyeon continued, leaning back against his desk. “Two guards all day and night. They only let in people with special permits directly from the President.”

   “And how are we going to get that?” Jongdae asked with a frown. Not just anyone could get a permit signed by the actual President. They had to go through multiple people to even get a chance.

   “We’re gonna steal if of course,” Junmyeon’s smile was almost devilish. “If we can get his seal, I’m sure we’ll get in. No one questions a seal from the President, they won’t even bother reading the note. He won’t be in his office now, so I don’t think it’ll be too hard getting in. But we can’t all go it would attract too much attention.”

Much to Jongdae’s surprise, Sehun actually stepped forward. “I’ll go. I think I can help you get in, I’m pretty good with locks.” With a crack and a puff of glitter, he shrunk, Jongdae startling slightly at the sound. He still had a hard time believing that the small, winged boy now fluttering in front of him was Sehun.

Junmyeon looked surprised for a second as well but then smiled. “You’ll be easy to hide as well. Good thinking. Let’s do it.”

He opened the breast pocket of his jacket and Sehun made himself comfortable in it without a fuss. Junmyeon nodded at them and then left the office, closing the door softly behind them.

Now all they could do was wait.

   “Do you really trust him? Your friend?” Chanyeol asked, eyeing the door like he was contemplating bolting after them. “He won’t hurt Sehunnie?”

Jongdae paused. Did he trust Junmyeon? They had followed him this far and what he had said about why he worked for the Government seemed genuine. While there was the motive for him to turn them in, he could have done so the second he had them in his office. Jongdae didn’t know why, but he fully trusted the older boy. “I do. I trust him,” he said, looking Chanyeol right in the eyes to show him he meant it. “He’ll help us out. Sehun is safe.”

Surprisingly Chanyeol just nodded, seemingly going to trust Jongdae’s words just like that. Not even Baekhyun had anything to say, too absorbed by the small plant on his lap.

Having the two Sprites actually, trust his judgment after having only known him for a couple of hours, and clearly not too fond of Humans, made him feel quite proud of himself. He had proved not to be a ‘typical’ Human both to them and to himself. Going into this he hadn’t actually imagined they would end up working together – having expected more that they would end up ordering him around had they let him tag along. Instead, they had actually depended on his help – and yes, had it not been for Junmyeon they would probably still be trying to get into the building, but had he not been there the Sprites might not have trusted Junmyeon. It was nice to feel like he actually contributed to something.


	6. A twist to the story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know how you guys like it Xx  
> ~ M

**Chapter V**

_**A twist to the story** _

 

They waited in a tense silence, all anxiously waiting for Sehun and Junmyeon to return. Chanyeol kept bouncing his leg until Baekhyun slapped his thigh so hard it echoed through the small office. Baekhyun still looked quite uncomfortable but remarkably better as he softly hummed to himself, running his fingers up and down the leaves of the plant.

Being trapped inside such a small room with no windows made it hard for Jongdae to keep track of how much time had passed. Had it been minutes? Hours? He had no idea. The nervousness of waiting made him all jittery and he found it hard to stand still, pacing around the room. Baekhyun shot him some annoyed looks but didn’t say anything.

Finally, the door opened and a smiling Junmyeon entered. As he closed the door behind him, a tiny Sehun popped his head out from Junmyeon’s pocket, smiling just as wide. Junmyeon held out his hand, palm open with a proud smile. “We got it!” he cheered, showing off an intricately decorated wax seal stamp.

   “You should have seen Sehun!” he continued, moving his arms around as he gushed about the Faery. “I hadn’t expected for there to be a guard, but Sehun just slipped right under the door while he wasn’t looking. When he couldn’t get the stamp out the same way, he knocked over a lamp so the guard would open the door and he was able to sneak out while the guard was checking around the office. He made it seem so easy!”

Sehun smiled bashfully, the red colouring his cheeks and his shy smile making him look like a completely different person. A stark contrast to his usual smirk. “Thank you Junmyeon-hyung,” he preened. “But I wouldn’t have been able to do it if you hadn’t been so good at small-talking bullshit. That guard must have been bored if talking to you was more interesting.”

Though his words sounded mean, there was absolutely no bite to his voice, and Jongdae was happy to see he wasn’t the only one shocked at Sehun’s new attitude. Both Chanyeol and Baekhyun were staring at the Faery with wide eyes and mouths hanging open.

How long had they actually been gone for them to become so close?

Junmyeon looked mighty pleased with Sehun calling him hyung despite the following insult. He handed the seal to Sehun who finally left Junmyeon’s pocket to shift back. Junmyeon rummaged through his desk drawers, letting out a small ‘ah’ as he pulled out some wax sticks. He gave the wax to Chanyeol and told him to melt it with the candle, only to nearly drop his jaw to the floor as Chanyeol casually lit a flame on his pointer finger, holding the wax over that. He stared for a second much like Jongdae had, having probably never seen magic before, then he blinked and quickly got back to looking through his desk, this time pulling out a small piece of parchment.

He wrote a hurried note on it and handed the scroll to Chanyeol, who then dripped the melted wax on it, Sehun finishing their work by stamping it with the President’s seal.

   “This should get us in,” Junmyeon said, carefully placing the sealed scroll in his pocket after it had dried. He grabbed an empty satchel from his chair and threw it to Chanyeol. “Hide it under your cloak. We can put the gem in that. Now, cloaks up, all of you. Let’s go.”

The Sprites did as told and pulled their hoods up to cover their hair and faces. Jongdae had no cloak, but he didn’t think anyone here would recognize him anyway so it didn’t matter.

Once again Junmyeon led them all down a series of corridors that looked exactly the same. How anyone ever managed to find anything in this building, Jongdae had no idea. It was a maze. Had they not had Junmyeon with them, they would probably never have found the gem. Assuming they had actually gotten in.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to walk for long until they reached a broader corridor, two guards standing on each side in front of a door at the end. They both stood up straight as the five of them approached.

   “Good evening,” Junmyeon greeted cheerfully. “I’m sorry to disturb you this late, but I’ve been told to bring these gentlemen up here as soon as they arrived. The President called in some experts or something to take a look at the gem and they arrived earlier than expected. I was given this to give you,” he pulled out the sealed scroll from his pocket and held it out to the guards. “He insists they see it right away. A bit late for my liking, but hey, what can you do? An order is an order.”

The guards shared a look but Junmyeon just kept smiling naturally. He really was a great actor. The guard on the left grabbed the scroll and for one terrifying second, Jongdae thought he was going to open it. He took one look at the seal, nodded at the other guard and the door was opened for them. Just like that.

They entered a fairly large circular room, walls lined with curved tables filled with stacks of scrolls and books. In the middle stood a small display case about as tall as Jongdae’s hips and on it was the largest gemstone Jongdae had ever seen.

It was almost perfectly spherical, about the size of a fist. It was an enchanting mix of iridescent blue and pearly white, and it was as if it was slightly glowing. A Drop Of Moonlight, Chanyeol had called it. It was easy to see why; it was gorgeous.

Chanyeol immediately stalked over to the gem, relief washing over his face. He carefully looked it over to check if it was okay, while Baekhyun and Sehun started snooping around the room. Junmyeon stayed by the door, though Jongdae had seen him lock it after they entered.

   “It’s okay,” Chanyeol said relieved, gently picking up the gemstone. He ripped a strip of fabric off the bottom part of his tunic and wrapped it around the gem before placing it in the satchel. “Now let’s-“

   “What is this?!” Sehun suddenly exclaimed angrily. He spun around and gestured towards something on the table in front of him and Baekhyun. Jongdae reached them as Junmyeon did and they both looked down, confused as to what had upset them.

   “Care to explain this?” Baekhyun hissed, slamming his hand down next to whatever it was they wanted them to see.

Jongdae let his eyes wander over the open scroll in front of him and froze. Right there on the table in front of them was something that looked very much like battle plans. Maps of all the kingdoms, maps of what Jongdae thought could be army movements, plans and lists with endless information and strategies.

It looked a lot like plans to take over Elyxion. By force. By war.

   “What the hell?” Jongdae looked up at Junmyeon in disbelief. By the look of shock on the older boy’s face, it was clear he knew nothing about it either.

   “Did you know about this?” Baekhyun demanded.

   “ _No_! Of course not!” Jongdae snapped, unable to look away from the parchment in front of him. He couldn’t believe it. They were actually planning a full-on war against the other kingdoms. He knew his Government wasn’t exactly the friendliest, weighing work higher than anything, but he had never thought them to be violent. It seemed so surreal.

   “I swear I had no idea,” Junmyeon said sincerely, looking at the Sprites with wide eyes. “I swear. I can’t believe they-… I never thought they would-… We have to do something about this! We have to warn the other kingdoms!”

Junmyeon was right. They couldn’t just stand by and let this happen. First, though, they had to get out of this kingdom. Hopefully, it would be as easy as it had been for the knights getting in.

The doorknob jiggled and they all froze. It jiggled again and one of the guards shouted for them to open the door. There was a second of silence and then the door was almost slammed off of its hinges as the guards tried to break it down.

   “Fuck, they must have opened the scroll anyway,” Junmyeon swore. “Quick, help me grab these!” He started hurriedly rolling up the scrolls and showing them down Chanyeol’s satchel. Jongdae scrambled to help him, heart nearly jumping out of his chest every time the guards threw themselves at the door. They blindly grabbed for the maps on the table, Sehun, and Baekhyun doing the same around the room, just taking anything that could maybe be of use. When they couldn’t stuff any more into the satchel, they started filling pockets.

The door was slammed once again, this time creaking loudly. The wood snapped and the door flew open, the two guards falling into the room and - were those actual swords? Had they had those the whole time? And was that chainmail under their shirts? Since when did the Government have soldiers?

The guards had barely managed to get to their feet before Sehun swung out his arm, a strong gust of wind appearing out of nowhere, blowing out the torches and leaving the room in complete and total darkness.

For a second they were all frozen in the darkness, no one daring to make the first move. There was a thundering sound echoing through the building and Jongdae figured they had called in reinforcements already. They needed to get out.

Chanyeol suddenly yelped and an orange glow lit up his wide, scared eyes as he burned the hand that had grabbed onto his arm, the guard screaming in pain as the flames licked their way up his arm.

   “They’re magi!” the guard screamed, voice bouncing off the wall down the corridors.

A bright light lit up the room and Jongdae looked up to find Baekhyun holding a perfect ball of light in one of his hands. “Come on!” the Nymph yelled. “We have to get out!”

Both the guards had recovered from the shock of their magic, the guy with the burned hand sweating from the pain but otherwise paying it no mind. They had now drawn their swords and were blocking the door. Sehun didn’t hesitate in raising his hand, blowing the guards back into the hallway.

Junmyeon was the first one out the door, Jongdae running after the Sprites. The thundering footsteps of the incoming guards sounded like they were coming from all directions, but Junmyeon kept going towards what would hopefully be an exit. Sehun blew out the torches behind them to hopefully slow down their pursuers.

As they sprinted through the corridors, Jongdae found it hard to catch his breath. His heart was pounding and his mouth felt dry. When he had thought about helping the knights, he hadn’t thought they would end up getting chased by soldiers with swords, trying to get away with plans to start a war.

What would he have been doing right now, had he chosen not to help them?

He didn’t get to finish the thought as a group of soldiers rounded the corner ahead of them. Unfortunately, Sehun managed to blow out the torches, leaving Baekhyun as the only source of light.

The soldiers charged, only one of them getting hit by the fireball Chanyeol threw at them. A soldier managed to reach Baekhyun who had to drop his light to dodge a sword, once again plunging the corridor into darkness.

Complete and total chaos ensued. Metal clashing, people yelling. Jongdae found himself totally disorientated, his senses getting turned around by the flashes of lights that lit up the hall for half a second every time Chanyeol and Baekhyun used their magic, making it seem like everything was moving in slow motion. A strong gust of wind nearly knocked him over and he was sure he heard someone actually fall. A soldier hopefully.

Someone grabbed onto his arm tightly in the same second another flash of light illuminated them all, just long enough for him to see the soldier holding him raising his sword. In a split second, Jongdae ignited the spark within him and sent the soldier flying back with a single zap of lightning and a flash of blue light.

The smell of burnt hair and flesh filled his nose and he gagged. He had never actually zapped another Human before, he wasn’t sure how much power it took to kill someone but right now he didn’t really care. They needed to get out.

Another soldier moved to swing his sword at Jongdae, who quickly zapped him as well, feeling some sort of sick satisfaction at seeing him spasm from the shock.

A fireball came hurtling past him, close enough to his face for him to feel the heat. “Hey!” he shouted into the darkness. “Watch where you shoot those things!”

From somewhere behind him came a muffled ‘sorry’, then a deep groan of pain and then another fireball, this one clearly hitting its mark by the looks of the now burning sleeve, the fire giving off a small source of light.

Relief welled up in Jongdae. In the dim light of the burning soldier, he could now see they had actually managed to overtake the soldiers. Some were on the floor, groaning in pain, others weren’t moving. Baekhyun held up a small ball of light to take in the scene in front of them, letting the glowing orb hover just below the ceiling. They had done it.

But as soon as Jongdae had let himself celebrate, a delegation of soldiers came around the corner behind them. They had caught up. Another delegation appeared in front of them.

They were surrounded.

Jongdae slowly backed up, bumping into Chanyeol who had been doing the same. He was now standing back to back with the knights, Junmyeon beside him and Government soldiers on both ends of the corridor. The only way out was through those soldiers. They would have to fight their way out.

The soldiers advanced slowly, no doubt wary of the magic they had heard about.

To his surprise, Junmyeon actually looked eerily calm. “On my cue,” he said, voice loud and clear. “Blast them back. Give them everything you’ve got.”

Jongdae was about to protest, there was no way the knights could take out the soldiers on both ends at the same time, and by the time they had taken down one group the other would be over them, but then Junmyeon looked at him with a small smirk. “That goes for you too.”

Jongdae’s heart stopped beating. He knew? How? How long?

He didn’t get to ask any questions because then Junmyeon was yelling out a ‘NOW’ and Jongdae reacted on instinct, holding out his hand towards the soldiers, lightning crackling between his fingers before shooting outwards. He had no idea he could even do it like that before today! Usually, it would come from the sky, but he had no idea he could actually generate it directly from himself.

His lightning wasn’t the only thing that hit the soldiers though. Seconds after he had sent most of them to the floor in spasms, they were washed over by what he could only describe as a small tidal wave. Wide-eyed he looked to his side and found Junmyeon creating water out of thin air. He caught Junmyeon’s eyes and the older boy smirked secretively before flicking his eyes towards the soldiers.

Jongdae understood immediately and sent another lightning bolt towards the soldiers. It merged with Junmyeon’s water so instead of only hitting the first few soldiers, it now hit every single one. In seconds they had the whole delegation on the floor. The smell of burnt flesh and somehow wet dog was so strong you could almost taste it.

He spun around first to see how the knights had handled their soldiers and unsurprisingly found them all on the floor unconscious. Some were still burning, adding to the unpleasant stench in the room.

He turned back to Junmyeon. “You have magic?!” he screeched, unable to stop himself. “Why didn’t you say anything? And how did you know about _me_? How long have you known?!”

   “Hold the fuck up,” Baekhyun boomed, his face looking more scary than beautiful. “Why didn’t _you_ tell _us_ about your magic? I’d say that’s quite a big fucking deal. You tell us to trust you only to keep something like this from us? Who do you think you are?!”

   “I wasn’t sure I could trust you yet!” Jongdae defended himself, glaring at Baekhyun. “In case you have forgotten, I had no idea you were real. For all I knew you could be spies, I had to have some kind of way to defend myself. But you!” he turned to Junmyeon again. “How long have you known about me?”

   “For a while,” Junmyeon admitted calmly which greatly annoyed Jongdae. How could he just be so calm about this? “I saw you once in our courtyard and also once out in the plantation. I was out collecting wood when I saw you practising.”

   “But why did you never-“ Jongdae started but got interrupted by Baekhyun again.

   “Don’t you two dare ignore us like this! We trusted you and you both lied to us!” he fumed. “How are we supposed to trust you now, huh?”

Junmyeon opened his mouth, brow furrowed but Chanyeol beat him to it.

   “Okay, will you all just _shut up_ for a second?” he wasn’t yelling, but his deep voice was strong enough to sound like someone had set off a canon. “This is hardly the time or place for this. We can continue when we actually make it out. Now Junmyeon-ssi, would you please-“

Sehun sunk to his knees with a small groan of pain and Jongdae suddenly became aware of the red that was slowly dripping down his hand and onto the floor where quite the puddle had already collected. Oh god, he was hurt.

   “Sehun!” Baekhyun gasped, quickly kneeling down beside his friend, hands running over his arm to see where he was hurt. “You’ve been cut!”

   “I’m fine,” Sehun insisted and tried to stand up though he swayed and almost fell. His face was ashen, eyes slightly glassy. He had already lost a lot of blood, they needed to stop the bleeding.

Thundering footsteps started echoing through the corridors again, Jongdae’s heartbeat speeding up. They were running out of time. Sehun couldn’t run like this but they had to get out.

   “Shift!” Junmyeon ordered, already picking up Sehun from the floor like he weighed nothing. Though the Faery glared up at him, he did as Junmyeon said and Junmyeon carefully placed him back in his breast pocket before he started running, not looking back. Jongdae and the knights quickly followed before he got too far away. Fortunately, the approaching soldiers seemed to come from behind but Jongdae still half expected to be jumped every time they passed a corridor or turned a corner.

And then, just like that, they were outside, Jongdae blinking in surprise as the cold night air hit his face. It was now so late there were no people outside so they didn’t even try to hide as they bolted through the city to get as far away from the Government building as possible.

   “We have to get Sehun’s wound tied up,” Junmyeon panted, hand carefully placed over his pocket as to not jostle the tiny Faery hiding there as he ran. “He’s bleeding too much, we won’t make it out of the city.”

   “But where can we go?” Baekhyun panted, voice slightly shrill with worry for his friend.

   “To my house,” Jongdae said, immediately knowing without having to think about it that it was the right place. “They won’t connect me to this, and Eomma is good with wounds. Abeoji cuts himself all the time in the kitchen. We can hide there for now.”

Despite Baekhyun’s earlier mistrust towards him, he must have been really desperate because he just nodded and gestured for Jongdae to lead the way. He and Junmyeon ran side by side, back towards their houses.

Though Junmyeon lived beside him, Jongdae was sure no one would connect himself to the crime just yet. The two boys were never seen together and they wouldn’t have recognized Jongdae at the Government building. They had at least a little while to get everything together before anyone came knocking.

They finally reached his house and he quickly ushered them all inside, closing the door behind them. They all just stood there, gasping for air as they slowly caught their breath. Junmyeon gently picked Sehun out of his pocket that was now coloured a disturbing red. A small flutter of Sehun’s wings was the only sign that he was still alive.

A door was flung open, hitting the wall with a loud crash, and Jongdae’s mother stepped out in her nightgown. Her face was like a thunderstorm and she opened her mouth, ready to let all hell loose when she noticed he had company.

   “Eomma, I promise I’ll explain later, but please, he’s hurt. Can you help him?” Jongdae pleaded, looking beggingly at his mother. She looked to where he was pointing, her eyes widening as she saw the small Faery lying on Junmyeon’s outstretched palm. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had taken their hoods off and while she definitely noticed they weren’t Human, she didn’t say anything.

Her face turned serious and she immediately got to work. She told Baekhyun where to find the first aid kit in the kitchen and ordered the boys to clear the table in the other room and put Sehun there, while she ran out to get some fresh water.

Jongdae and Chanyeol quickly moved to clear the table, pulling back the chairs to make more room. Junmyeon gently placed Sehun on the wooden surface, softly urging him to shift back. Though it seemed to take great effort, Sehun managed to shift back right as Jongdae’s mother entered with Baekhyun. She didn’t even flinch, only ordering Chanyeol to get Sehun’s cloak and tunic off so she could get to his arm.

   “We’ll need to sew it back together,” she said after getting a look at the wound. “I need someone to clean off the blood while I work.”

Chanyeol looked quite ill at the sight of blood and took a few steps back, but Junmyeon quickly stepped forward. “Just tell me what to do and when.”

   “Tie your belt around his arm, just over the cut. That will lessen the bleeding,” she instructed while pulling out what she needed. At the sight of the needle, Baekhyun paled as well and joined Chanyeol over by the wall. Junmyeon did as told, working quickly and efficiently.

   “Jongdae, would you give him three drops of milk of the poppy and a single drop of hemlock? It should be enough to take the pain as I stitch him up.”

Jongdae quickly located the two small bottles his mother was talking about and moved up to Sehun’s head. “This won’t taste very good,” he mumbled to Sehun though he was unsure if he could hear him or not. “But it’ll help, I promise.”

He carefully dropped the first drops of poppy into Sehun’s mouth, then the single drop of hemlock. Both were strong painkillers, lethal in large doses, so this should be more than enough.

His mother and Junmyeon worked together in perfect sync, his mother occasionally giving an order and Junmyeon following without question. He kept the wound clean while she carefully stitched the skin back together. When she was done, she bandaged up his arm, then removed Junmyeon’s belt.

   “It’ll take a while to heal, but he’ll be good as new,” she told the boys.

   “Thank you so much,” Chanyeol bowed deeply, Baekhyun doing the same.

   “You’re very welcome,” she said kindly, then turned to Jongdae. “Can I have a word with you?”

Jongdae nodded and followed his mother back into the kitchen. He fidgeted nervously as he tried to come up with any kind of explanation that would make even a little bit of sense, but he came up blank.

   “Now I’ve always known you’ve had a knack for finding trouble, but this,” she sighed, rubbing her temples. “Where in the world did you meet the Onyx Lei? Why are they here?”

   “They… I… You know them?” he stuttered.

   “Of course I do, I’ve told you all the stories haven’t I?” she smiled tiredly. “Magic runs in our family so we were all raised with these stories. I figured you would run off to join them the second you discovered you were a magi, but you surprised me. I’m happy though, we needed you home.”

   “You knew? About my magic?” Jongdae’s voice was shrill. This was too much. First Junmyeon and now his mother? And what was that about magic running in the family?

   “I wasn’t sure you would inherit the magic since it skipped both me, my mother and your brother, but I guess I always had a hunch you would be the next in the line.” She smiled softly, reaching up to caress his cheek. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I thought you would tell me yourself someday.”

In the distance, warning bells started ringing, soon spreading throughout the city. Jongdae’s head snapped up. They were running out of time to get out.

   “I’m afraid we don’t have much time,” his mother continued, voice now more urgent. “Now I don’t know what happened or what you’ve gotten yourself into, but I want you to go with them. Don’t worry about your Abeoji and me, we’ll figure something out. But these boys could really use your help.”

   “Eomma…” Jongdae was speechless and to his horror, he felt tears well up in his eyes. This could be the last time he saw his mother in god knows how long.

She pulled him into a hug, and he hugged her back tightly. He was going to miss her. When they pulled back she was teary-eyed as well. “I always knew you’d have to leave someday, but I guess you’re never quite ready.”

The warnings bells were a harsh reminder of the little time they had. His mother picked up a sack and hurriedly began filling it with food. She tried to hide her quiet sniffles behind coughs, but Jongdae could still hear it and he had to fight to keep his own tears in. He had never seen his mother cry before. He suddenly felt like a kid again, he had never been away from home before. Yes, he had always dreamed about leaving but was he ready? It seemed so sudden and now he had no choice. He would bring his own family in danger by staying, and the knights needed his help.

   “You have to hurry,” his mother urged, shoving the sack of food into his hands. “Go now. Be safe, please? Take care. I’ll talk to your Abeoji, don’t worry. I love you.”

   “I love you too, Eomma,” Jongdae sniffled, pulling his mother into another tight hug. If a tear or two rolled down his cheeks, no one had to know.

He pulled back as the other boys entered the room, Sehun back in Junmyeon’s pocket. They looked quite restless. The warning bells sounded like they got louder with every second that passed and Jongdae felt his heartbeat speed up.

   “We should go,” Junmyeon said, eyeing Jongdae and his mother with sad eyes. Jongdae knew the older boy lived alone, but for a second he wondered where his family was. He wouldn’t get to say goodbye to them.

With one last look at his mother who smiled wistfully, he followed the others out the door and into the night, his heart cracking with every step he took away from his home.

__

 


	7. Leaving home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys will like it Xx  
> ~ M

**Chapter VI**

_**Leaving home** _

 

When they finally stopped running, Jongdae had no idea where they were. His legs had been numb for what felt like hours, his lungs screaming but he had kept going.

They were in the middle of some plantation somewhere in Paneia, but Jongdae didn’t really care where as long as they were far enough away from the capital and the soldiers.

They had blown an actual hole in the wall to escape the capital. They had tried going for the gates but it had already been swarming with soldiers and without Sehun to give them a jump boost, a hole it was. Jongdae and Junmyeon had used every bit of strength in them to make a hole big enough before the soldiers noticed them. Lightning, it turned out, was great at cracking a wall, Junmyeon’s water expanding from the inside out taking down a whole section. The hole had been more than big enough.

Once they had made it to the other side, they hadn’t stopped running. Only now that they had actually slowed down, did Jongdae realize how exhausted he actually was. His whole body was aching and no matter how much he breathed, it felt like it wasn’t enough.

They all collapsed on the ground, just lying there for several minutes to try and catch their breath. Jongdae was pretty sure they were quite far away from the nearest town, so he didn’t worry too much about being found. And the soldiers wouldn’t be able to find them so far away from Dorwall, the area was too big to search. They were safe for now. They could relax for a while.

Besides, there was no way they could do anything until they had rested and had some food. Jongdae couldn’t even remember when he last ate. It was still dark outside but Jongdae had a feeling they were closer to sunrise than sunset.

   “We should make camp,” Chanyeol suggested, still panting. “We can’t keep going like this.”

Mumbled agreements sounded from them all and they forced themselves to get back up. There weren’t many places to hide though. It was either open farm fields or straight-lined plantations. Most of the ground had been levelled to make it more efficient, but they did find a small hill by the edge of the plantation. It had been made to protect the trees from strong winds so it was high enough to shield them from view. At least from one side.

They all settled against the hill. Junmyeon gently got Sehun out of his pocket again and made him shift back, checking over the Faery’s bandaged arm. The boy was still ashen and weak, leaning sluggishly against the Human.

Chanyeol mumbled something about getting a fire started and toddled off to find some firewood. Jongdae focused on the food his mother had given him. She had packed several loaves of bread, a large block of cheese and about a dozen hotteok. She had even slipped in a couple bungeo-ppang. He loved his mother so much. The perk of being a baker’s son was the constant refill of baked goods in their kitchen – whenever something couldn’t be sold or just didn’t sell, his parents would let him eat it. They must have just filled up the kitchen since she had found so much for them.

   “Oh my god, I have no idea what that is but it smells amazing!” Baekhyun scooted closer to Jongdae, eyes wide and hungry as he took in all of the food in front of them. It must have been a while since they last ate as well. “I’m starving, what is it?”

   “Well,” Jongdae started, smiling at the Nymph’s eagerness. They must have different food where he comes from. “The hotteok are like… sweet pancakes? It has a lot of sugar in it. The fish-shaped ones are bread filled with red beans, they’re called bungeo-ppang. Eomma makes them all the time though they’re usually for winter. They’re delicious.”

Baekhyun looked like he hadn’t understood most of what Jongdae had said, his eyes fixed on the food and Jongdae thought the Nymph might actually start drooling.

Right one cue Chanyeol came back, and within minutes he had a fire going. They all gathered around it and Jongdae handed out some of the food to them all, making sure he saved some for later. Who knew how long they would have to travel. Junmyeon made them all water to drink, creating small balls of floating water you could swallow easily.

They ate in comfortable silence, all enjoying being able to relax for a while. Junmyeon fed Sehun small pieces of bread and water, the Faery, though still weak, preening under all the attention. The Sprites all seemed to enjoy the food though they hadn’t known what it was. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were cuddled up, whispering and giggling to each other. Jongdae smiled to himself as he took it all in. They all kind of got on the wrong foot, but he could see himself becoming friends with these boys. Perhaps he could even join the knights some day. He wasn’t sure if they allowed Humans in the order, but he could always be the first.

He wondered what other types of magic were out there. So far everyone he had seen had different magic. Junmyeon’s water, Chanyeol’s fire, and his own lightning. Sehun, he was pretty sure, had some type of wind magic, and Baekhyun… he wasn’t really sure yet. Something with light, but he was unsure if there was more to it.

It was Baekhyun who first broke the silence. “So… a war,” he started, eyeing Jongdae and Junmyeon though this time not hatefully. “You honestly had no idea?”

   “We didn’t,” Junmyeon promised for both of them. “I swear we had no idea. I still can’t believe they’re actually planning a war. I never thought they would go that far.”

   “Why did you hide your magic then?” Chanyeol asked. “We did trust you, I thought you trusted us as well.”

Junmyeon gestured for Jongdae to go first. He breathed out through his nose, trying to figure out what to say. “I wasn’t sure if I could trust you,” he said, repeating what he had said earlier. “I had no idea who you were and I wanted to make sure I could trust you before I revealed myself. And then we were kind of busy breaking into a high-security building, so.” He shrugged. This time Baekhyun and Chanyeol accepted his reasons without a fuss, both hopefully understanding where he was coming from.

   “As for me, I didn’t tell you,” Junmyeon started, directing it at Jongdae. “Because I didn’t want the Government to have any reasons thinking you had any ties to me in case they realized why I was actually working there. My family doesn’t live in the capital so they would go after my friends first.”

Jongdae was speechless. He wasn’t sure what he had expected but it hadn’t been that. Now that Junmyeon mentioned it, Jongdae vaguely remembered his parents mentioning something about their new neighbour being from another town when Junmyeon moved in all those years ago. He had lived there so long it had felt like forever.

He must have been incredibly lonely living in a big city without making any friends. Jongdae felt bad for judging him so fast.

   “As for the rest of you,” Junmyeon continued, leaning back against the hill behind him, careful not to jostle Sehun who was still leaning on him, fast asleep. “It never really felt like the right time. We were kind of busy and it’s not something you just blurt out.”

Baekhyun sighed but nodded and Chanyeol didn’t say anything either. They probably realized there was no point in arguing anymore about something they couldn’t change. Jongdae and Junmyeon had hopefully proved they were both trustworthy by now.

   “What do we do now?” Jongdae asked, curious to know what the knights had planned for him and Junmyeon. The Humans couldn’t return to the capital now, so they needed to come up with a plan soon if the knights didn’t want them to come along.

   “Well,” Chanyeol started slowly. “We should meet up with the rest of our squad beyond the wall. They’ll be waiting to hear from us. Minseok will know what to do about all this,” he gestured towards his satchel that was stuffed full of parchment. “We also need to give _Solas Na Gealaich_ back to my King. Then we have to warn everyone and figure out how to stop this war.”

   “For now, though, we need sleep,” Junmyeon said before Jongdae could ask who this Minseok was. But the second Junmyeon mentioned the word sleep, Jongdae realized how tired he was.

   “I’ll take the first watch,” Chanyeol said as Baekhyun yawned loudly beside him. He took off his cape and draped it over the Nymph as he laid down. He whispered something in another language, gazing lovingly down at the smaller boy, and Baekhyun mumbled something back sleepily.

   “I’ll stay up too.” Junmyeon gently helped Sehun lie comfortably on the ground, taking off his jacket to give him as a pillow.

Jongdae laid down as well and tried to get as comfortable as possible on the ground. It was a bit lumpy but he was honestly too tired to care. Though his mind was whirring with everything that had happened, his body was fighting to stay awake. Eventually, he let himself be pulled under into a deep sleep.

 

                                                                    

Jongdae looked up in awe. He knew the Great Wall would be huge – hence the name, but this was… enormous. Several stories high and going on for as far as the eye could see in each direction.

They had stayed clear of any official gates once again, knowing they would have never been able to get through that way. And they would not be able to blast a hole through this wall, at least not without taking a week. They had to think of something else.

Sehun was still too weak, camping out in Junmyeon’s now newly cleaned pocket, having the time of his life being carried around and babied.

Jongdae’s body was aching all over. Running for so long, sleeping on the ground and then walking for hours was more exercise than he’d had his whole life combined. It was awful.

Though they had slept well into the day, he was still exhausted. At least they’d still had a lot of food left, so they had a big breakfast. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to walk for long once they had gotten past the wall. Jongdae was sure his legs were going to fall off soon.

   “Any ideas?” he asked, voice slightly muffled by a yawn. “How do we get over this thing?”

   “I’m not really sure,” Baekhyun admitted, eyeing the wall with wide eyes. It seemed quite impossible at the moment.

   “Don’t be stupid.” Sehun’s voice was comically squeaky as he popped his head up from Junmyeon’s pocket, hair sticking up everywhere. He looked exhausted but there was a bit of colour back in his cheeks. “I’ll get you over like last time.”

He fluttered out of Junmyeon’s pocket before shifting. Both Baekhyun and Chanyeol started protesting loudly, speaking over each other making it impossible to understand what they were saying.

Now that Sehun was Human-sized again, it was clear he was still quite pale and his eyes were sort of glassy. He honestly didn’t look ready to do anything but go back to sleep for another day.

   “Shut up,” Sehun mumbled, glaring at his friends. “We all know it’s the easiest and fastest way over. I need to do this, so don’t be stupid and let me do it.”

   “But what if you drop us? What if you faint?” Baekhyun insisted, almost knocking his head against Sehun’s to make his point. “You’re still too weak. There’s no way you’re doing this.”

Sehun rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, his face twisted in an actual pout. He looked so young like that and Jongdae briefly wondered how old they all actually were. They all looked around his own age, but he didn’t know if ageing worked differently with Nature Sprites.

   “Do you honestly believe you can do this?” Junmyeon asked, looking Sehun straight in the eyes. Had he looked at Jongdae like that, he wouldn’t have dared to lie. Junmyeon could look scary when he wanted to. He had the natural feeling of being a leader. “We trust you with this.”

   “I know I can do this,” Sehun answered, not even blinking as he stared right back at Junmyeon. Jongdae honestly admired his guts.

Junmyeon nodded. “Okay then, let’s do it,” he said, silencing Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s protests with a single look. Jongdae was a little worried about being dropped after Baekhyun had mentioned it, but he knew better than trying to go against Junmyeon right now. He hadn’t really known the older boy that long, but he was honestly a little scared.

The Faery, who looked mighty pleased with Junmyeon’s support, told them to gather around close to him and grab on tightly. Jongdae huddled closer with the others and grabbed tightly onto Chanyeol’s arm. The Elf was hanging on tight to Sehun and Jongdae hoped he wouldn’t let him fall.

With his palms facing towards the ground, Sehun took a deep breath and suddenly they were several meters into the air. The wind was howling in Jongdae’s ears, his eyes tearing up making it impossible to see. It felt like his breakfast was on its way back up.

Just as suddenly as they had been heading up, they were on their way back down. And it was so much worse. If he had been able to open his mouth and catch his breath, he would honestly have thrown up on Chanyeol. The blurry shapes and the spinning world around him made him dizzy so he squeezed his eyes shut, praying it would be over soon.

His feet hit the ground with enough force to rattle every bone in his body and he failed to catch himself as he stumbled, landing on his side with a groan.

He hated flying. Falling. Whatever that had been. Never again. He would rather go head to head with the soldiers.

Beside him, the other boys were on the ground as well, groaning in pain. They took a couple of minutes to get back on their feet, Jongdae feeling like his eyes were going to roll right out of his head. If felt like he was spinning. He shouldn’t have shared that last hotteok with Baekhyun, it certainly wasn’t agreeing with his stomach now.

Once the spinning in his head had settled and his ears had stopped buzzing, he slowly sat up. Chanyeol was sitting as well, rubbing his head with his eyes squeezed shut. Junmyeon was already up, him and Baekhyun helping Sehun sit up, making sure he got some water. The Faery was now ashen again, the little colour he had regained in his cheeks lost. Using so much magic when he was already weak had completely drained him. They’d had to do it though, there was no other way over that wall and Sehun had known that.

   “I’ll carry him again,” Junmyeon said and Baekhyun nodded wordlessly, looking worried for his friend. Sehun didn’t even need to be asked before he shifted and let Junmyeon put him back in his pocket. He let his head stick up, a small smile on his face as he got comfortable.

   “Minseok and the others shouldn’t be too far away,” Chanyeol said, voice slightly slurred as he stood up on wobbly legs.

Jongdae got up as well, swaying a little as his eyes blurred for a second. Though it was still blurry, Jongdae realized that all he could see was green. He blinked furiously, realizing he was finally able to see what was outside that damn wall. He was in another kingdom. Which one he didn’t know, and right now he didn’t care.

He breathed out in awe. Wide open fields for as far as the eye could see, covered in lush, green grass and a rainbow of flowers, glittering lakes and silver streams breaking through the landscape. Instead of it just being flat, everything felt so alive with hills and slopes, random trees and bushes littered randomly instead of being planted in straight lines. Not that far in the distance was a forest that seemed to go on forever.

Not anything grey anywhere in sight.

It was everything he had ever dreamed it would be.


	8. Meeting the squad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally meeting the rest of the boys ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter VII**

_**Meeting the squad** _

 

Both him and Junmyeon stumbled along behind Baekhyun and Chanyeol, completely in awe of the scenery. Junmyeon was as captivated by all the green as Jongdae was. The Sprites seemed to find their wonder amusing as they kept glancing back and laughing at them. Jongdae couldn’t help it though, there was so much to look at! He had only ever seen this in paintings.

Junmyeon was giddy as well, pointing out everything like an excited child. So different from the scary person he had been earlier. Jongdae let himself be pulled along by his good mood and found himself whooping excitedly when he saw a butterfly.

They reached the woods too soon for Jongdae’s liking, but the forest was just as amazing. It was everything it was supposed to be; trees, bushes and complete chaos in nature. It was amazing. It felt weird not being able to look down a straight line between the trees. He loved it. He felt like it was easier to breathe.

A small path was the only indication that the forest had ever seen any form of tampering with, the Sprites of this kingdom respecting the nature.

  “They shouldn’t be too far from here,” Chanyeol said excitedly, his long legs surprisingly graceful as he quickly made his way along the uneven path. Baekhyun was almost glowing as he flitted along behind the Elf, hands running over every plant he could reach. He was walking so elegantly it almost seemed as if he was flying.

Jongdae and Junmyeon, on the other hand, were both walking with heavy footsteps, stumbling along to try and keep up.

A voice suddenly spoke up somewhere close by, Jongdae nearly jumping out of his skin. A boy stepped out from between the trees. He was about the same height at Jongdae. He had light brown hair that was a bit longer on the top than on the sides, round glaring eyes framed by thick brows. And he was wearing an Onyx Lei uniform, Jongdae’s eyes automatically moving down to his glove to see the gem. This one was a curious mix of brown and orange tones.

When he got a good look at his friends and he realized they weren’t alone he stopped, his glare intensifying.

  “Who the hell is that?” His eyes ran over their dishevelled appearances. “Why do you all look like shit? And where the fuck is Sehun?”

  “Kyungsoonnie!” Baekhyun squealed and threw himself at the other boy, who looked anything but amused by the Nymph’s antics. “I’ve missed you! You won’t believe what happened!”

Chanyeol sighed fondly, though Jongdae noticed him tense up for a second as the boy – Kyungsoo – glared up at the elf as if blaming him for the hyperactive Nymph crawling all over him. Jongdae was quite quick to admit that the new knight already scared him. That death glare sent chills down his spine.

  “Sehun is right here, he’s just a little tired so don’t worry,” Junmyeon said also eyeing the new knight warily, as he gestured towards the pocket Sehun was currently napping in. Kyungsoo raised a brow as his eyes ran over the Human, moving to Jongdae next. His dark eyes seemed to pierce right through him.

Without acknowledging any of them, Kyungsoo stared expectantly at Chanyeol.

  “I’ll explain later, but we need to see Minseok. We found something big,” Chanyeol said.

The other knight nodded and shoved Baekhyun away, ignoring his whining as he started walking. Baekhyun scampered after him like a puppy. Jongdae and Junmyeon had to nearly run to keep up with Chanyeol and the other knights.

  “So, how many of you are there?” Jongdae asked, a little nervous about this Minseok they kept mentioning. He must be their leader, or at least someone of high status. What would he say about them bringing along two Humans?

  “In the whole order? I have no idea,” Chanyeol said with a shrug. “But we’re seven in our squadron. Minseok is our leader. He picked every one of us personally for his team. He’s great, you’ll like him. Ah, there they are!”

The trees opened up around them and they walked into a clearing, Jongdae pausing as he took it all in. Scattered around the clearing were several tents and in the middle was a campfire. A small herd of horses was grazing peacefully by the clearing’s edge. Three boys, surprisingly all looking around his own age as well, were sitting by the fire. They were all wearing Onyx Lei uniforms. It still felt surreal for Jongdae to see.

Two of the boys were playing some sort of game Jongdae couldn’t quite identity while the third was observing quietly. They all looked up as they noticed someone approaching.

  “You’re back!” One of them jumped up and in a second, he was suddenly right in front of them despite having been several meters away. Both Jongdae and Junmyeon took a step back in surprise but none of the knights even blinked.

He was almost as tall as Chanyeol, though he lacked the ears of an Elf. His hair was silver like Baekhyun’s only darker and more matte in the colour, and it was styled in a gentle swoop. He had a very handsome face with a sharply cut, strong jawline and warm, though still sharp eyes.

  “How did it go? Did you get it?” the knight asked eagerly, eyes widening when noticing the two Humans. “Ah, who’s this?”

  “We’ll explain in a minute Jonginnie,” Chanyeol said, unable not to smile back. “But you all need to hear this,” he raised his voice so the two other knights approaching them could hear as well. Both of them were staring at the newcomers, one with a serene smile and the other with barely concealed mistrust.

The one smiling was clearly an Elf by the looks of the pointy ears sticking out from his blonde hair. His face was sleek and he would have been intimidating had it not been for his droopy puppy eyes. His smile was warm and friendly as he curiously looked at the two Humans.

Jongdae let his eyes wander to the other knight and… wow. The boy… man? knight was about the same height as himself, which meant he was quite short compared to most of the other knights. But what he lacked in height he made up for in muscle, his body well toned and quite compact, a stark contrast to his baby face. Slightly long, curly black hair fell over his face and Jongdae found himself unable to look away.

Though he looked young, his eyes reminded Jongdae of a fox – clever, cunning and calculating. And quite beautiful as well, but he didn’t let himself dwell on that thought as the knight locked eyes with him, face twisting to a frown. His cold gaze made it hard for Jongdae to maintain eye contact and he looked away, feeling his face get a little warm.

  “What happened, Chanyeol?” the small knight demanded, authority shining from his voice. Jongdae had no doubt this was the Minseok they had talked about. This was their leader. A silver brooch of the Tree of Life with a star added on top glittered from his tunic.

  “I’ll show you in a second, but first,” Chanyeol said before turning to Junmyeon. “Sehun needs to be there too.”

Junmyeon helped the small Faery out of his pocket and onto Chanyeol’s outstretched hand, the new knights looking on with wide eyes. Why would a stranger carry their friend?

As the knights started walking towards the biggest tent, Baekhyun turned around and looked at the two Humans. “It’s probably best if you stay here,” he said with a small smile. “Don’t leave though, they’ll want to talk to you.”

So Junmyeon and Jongdae settled by the fire. They were unfortunately too far away from the tent to hear anything, but Jongdae had a pretty good idea of what they were talking about. Both of them were quiet for a while as if hoping they would be able to hear the knights anyway, but when they heard nothing but the wind in the trees, Junmyeon sighed.

  “What do you think will happen now?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jongdae answered honestly. He really didn’t. Just about anything could happen. They could be allowed to follow the knights to the different kingdoms and warn them about the upcoming war – they could be quite useful regarding information about Paneia as it seemed they were quite lacking in that department. But with the way that Minseok had looked at them… they shouldn’t get their hopes up. Apparently, Humans weren’t popular and now he was informed of the war… Jongdae was afraid they wouldn’t even make it away unharmed.

Was torture for information still a thing?

Even if they did make it away unscathed, they couldn’t return to Paneia for years. At least Junmyeon wasn’t the worst person to live with if they had to build their own house somewhere far from everything.

They shared a concerned look but didn’t say anything else, too caught up on their own thoughts. What was his family doing right now? His mother would have told his father about it all by now. Were they worried about him?

It felt like hours later when Minseok and the other knights finally emerged from the tent. They weren’t smiling anymore, the new knights now eyeing the Humans sceptically, having no doubt been informed about their magic as well as the war.

Junmyeon and Jongdae stood up as the knights approached, Minseok walking in the front. His face was set in hard lines, mouth in a tight line and eyes narrowed.

  “We’ll break camp tomorrow,” Minseok started, staring the two Humans down. “I would have liked to do it sooner, but Sehun needs to rest, as does Chanyeol and Baekhyun. I’ll send out an owl to warn the kingdoms about your Government, and tomorrow at dawn we’ll head for Inaenamelle and give the King and Queen back their gem. Then we’ll visit the other kingdoms and deal with this war. We need the whole order on this.”

He paused to take a breath before continuing. “The two of you are coming with us. I’ve been informed that we seem to be quite lacking in information about your culture, and your information could prove to be useful. As could the magic they’ve told me you have.” His eyes sparkled with something that looked like curiosity for a second before it was once again replaced by steel. “My knights have promised me you are trustworthy, so don’t let them down.”

Both Humans nodded eagerly, both happy they got to go along with the knights. It wasn’t exactly the best circumstances, but it gave Jongdae the opportunity to go on the adventure he had always dreamed of. And with every kingdom and the whole knight order working together, Jongdae was sure they could get this war stopped before it even started. He wasn’t worried. Not yet at least.

Minseok stared at the two Humans, and for a second Jongdae wondered what it would look like if he smiled. He certainly was beautiful… Their eyes met and Jongdae felt a chill down his spine at the ice-cold gaze. He sure was scary. And by the looks of it, he was most likely uptight and unapproachable. Better steer clear.

He broke their gaze, vaguely aware of the leader’s eyes still on him for a heartbeat longer. Then it was as if a spell was broken, and they all scattered. Chanyeol, Sehun, and Kyungsoo went into a tent, probably to rest. Junmyeon walked over and settled by the fire, Jongdae quickly following.

The other Elf with the kind smile joined them as well. “Hello,” he greeted friendlily. “I’m Zhang Yixing, it’s nice to meet you, sad circumstances though. Are any of you hurt?”

His voice was slow and languid, his accent thicker than Chanyeol’s, but he still managed to speak so fast Jongdae had a hard time keeping up. What was he on about?

  “Uhm,” Jongdae frowned, holding out his left hand. “I got a couple of scratches, otherwise I’m just exhausted.”

Yixing smiled and grabbed Jongdae’s outstretched hand, Jongdae fighting the urge to pull it back. This guy was either overly friendly or just plain weird. Hopefully, it was the first one.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do anything about the exhaustion, but the scratches aren’t a problem.”

Jongdae’s hand suddenly started tingling and Yixing’s hands felt weirdly warm. His arm jerked back on instinct, but Yixing held on, giving the Human a calming smile. “It’s okay, look.”

He pulled his hands back and Jongdae looked down to find his hand completely scratch free. He stared at his palm in wonder, turning it over a couple of times in disbelief. Unbelievable.

Junmyeon was watching with wide, amazed eyes as well and wordlessly held out his own scratched up arms. Yixing laughed and placed his hands on the injuries. A smooth pink gemstone was embedded in his glove.

  “Healing?” Junmyeon asked, watching Yixing work with fascination shining out of his eyes. Yixing nodded, amused by their wonder. “That’s amazing! Is there a limit? Can you heal broken bones? Illnesses?”

  “Flesh wounds are easy to deal with,” Yixing shrugged, rubbing his hands together as he left Junmyeon’s arm scratch free. “Broken bones are a bit harder, takes a lot of my energy. And illnesses are tricky, it depends a lot on what it is and how strong the person is. I’m still learning though.”

Junmyeon and Yixing kept talking, but Jongdae zoned out, attention shifting as Minseok and Baekhyun came out of a tent with a large owl perched on Minseok’s shoulder while Baekhyun was holding a little scroll. The bird had a plumage of beautiful, warm, brown colours and what looked like horns on its head.

He watched as Baekhyun tied the scroll around the leg of the owl. Minseok turned slightly to the side and Jongdae got a glimpse of his gemstone – a pale, blue one. A cold colour that fit its owner.  

  “She’s beautiful isn’t she?” Yixing commented, suddenly closer to Jongdae, startling the Human slightly. Jongdae nodded. It really was a beautiful bird. Slightly scary that close, but beautiful.

  “A horn-owl, right?” Junmyeon asked excitedly. “I’ve read they’re amazing messenger birds.”

Yixing nodded with a proud smile. “She is, yeah. Very fast and reliable messenger, she is. The Elven King should be informed of our arrival in a day or two.”

Only listening with half an ear, Jongdae nodded again. He followed Minseok with his eyes as the leader lifted his arm and let the magnificent owl take flight, the huge wingspan of the horned owl nearly dwarfing the two Sprites standing below. Minseok said something to Baekhyun and then, without another glance around, retreated to one of the tents. Jongdae blinked and shook his head when he realized he had been staring at the tent opening long enough for it to be weird.

Someone sat down on the opposite side of the fire, and when Jongdae looked over, he was met with a smiling… Jongin was it? The one who had disappeared and reappeared in the blink of an eye.

He was looking at the two Humans with open curiosity and Jongdae felt a little embarrassed being studied like that. Especially when all of the knights were like abnormally good looking – he felt a little plain next to them all. He suspected it had something to do with being Human, because – other than Junmyeon actually – Humans just weren’t that good looking.

  “Is it true Humans never have fun?” Jongin asked, leaning forward towards the fire to get closer to them. He rested his head on his hands, eyes wide and curious. His gem was clear and colourless but cut intricately so it glittered in the light from the fire. “It sounds so boring to be Human.”

Jongdae couldn’t help but laugh and Junmyeon also snorted out a giggle, trying to hide his smile with his hand to not be disrespectful. Yixing frowned and was about to scold the other knight, but Jongdae held his hand up with a smile. He wasn’t offended at all – how could be when the knight was right?

  “Compared to you guys, we are pretty boring,” he admitted with a shrug, finding it amusing how Jongin’s mouth was hanging open as he took in his words. “We either go to school or work, that’s pretty much it. Not much else going on. Just ask Junmyeon here, he was a real paper pusher until yesterday.”

Junmyeon laughed and playfully punched Jongdae’s shoulder. “It wasn’t like I enjoyed my job you know,” he whined, though still smiling widely. “Honestly, people were so boring. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. How no one died of boredom I have no idea. If I never see a stack of paperwork ever again it’ll still be too soon.”

Jongin nodded eagerly, seemingly keen to learn all there was to know about Humans even though he had just been told they were the most boring creatures in the realm. He continued asking questions that seemed like they would bore anyone else, like what Human houses looked like and how their jobs worked. Junmyeon and Jongdae were only happy to answer with as much detail Jongin wanted as they both enjoyed seeing the knight so excited. Even Yixing was listening intently thought it seemed he zoned out every now and then.

At one point Baekhyun joined them as well and wasted no time in dramatically telling them everything he had experienced while in Paneia and Dorwall. He spared no feelings as he complained about pretty much everything, but again, Jongdae couldn’t really get offended when the knight was right.

Now that everything was said out loud and discussed, he realized just how messed up their system had actually been. The Government saw them as nothing more than worker bees they could boss around. How the whole Human Kingdom saw nothing wrong with that was beyond him, but it was probably because they were all raised with the knowledge that it was just how it worked. With no knowledge about the outside kingdoms, they had nothing to compare to.

When Baekhyun asked if Jongdae had any more of his food, Jongin and Yixing watched in fascination as the Human pulled out the sack and showed them the last of his rations. They listened with wide eyes as Baekhyun explained what the food was, Jongdae stifling a laugh as the Nymph got the names all wrong. With permission Baekhyun then carefully split the food between the three knights. Hotteok and bungeo-ppang were apparently more delicious than Jongdae thought as the knights scarfed it down with sounds of great enjoyment.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo joined them just as Baekhyun popped the last piece of hotteok into his mouth, chewing obnoxiously with his mouth open as Chanyeol complained they hadn’t saved him some. He sat down beside the Nymph and pulled him close despite the smaller boy chewing loudly right next to his ear. Kyungsoo sat quietly beside Jongin, the silver-haired boy sending him a soft smile. Though Kyungsoo didn’t smile back, his face softened up.

Once their fascination with the Human world had died down, it was already dinner time and the sun had begun to set. Now that Jongdae didn’t have any more of his own food and he was feeling kind of hungry, he got excited to see what the Sprites usually ate.

Jongin and Baekhyun both got up to get the food just as Sehun emerged from his tent, looking remarkably better already after a good rest. He smiled serenely as they all greeted him, and made himself comfortable next to Junmyeon, leaning his head on the older boy’s shoulder though he had to slump down to do it. If Junmyeon felt uncomfortable at all with the closeness, he surely wasn’t showing it. In fact, he looked almost proud to be on the receiving end of Sehun’s affection.

Minseok joined them as well, raising a brow when seeing Sehun so comfortable with the Human but didn’t say anything as he sat down opposite of Jongdae.

They waited in comfortable silence for the two knights to come back with the food, Jongdae finding himself glancing over at Minseok from time to time. Something about the leader just seemed magnetic even though he came off as unapproachable. Maybe it was the way the fire cast shadows on his face that made him look like he was glowing. He glanced over again and was met with curious eyes staring back. His face heated up and he quickly looked away, embarrassed at being caught.

He was saved by Baekhyun and Jongin returning with the food. Jongdae’s mouth watered at the sight. An array of fruits, berries, and nuts along with honey, nectar and something that looked like flatbread. His stomach growled and he dug in as soon as they put his share in front of him.

Once his stomach had stopped screaming at him, Jongdae wiped his mouth and finally got the nerves to ask something he had been wondering for a while. What did the knights actually do? Did they actually fight dragons and Troll armies like in his mother’s stories?

Unfortunately, it seemed the life of the Onyx Lei was much more mundane than that. They had the odd job here and there, maybe helping out a village after a particularly bad storm or flood, or with just about anything their magic could be used for. Sometimes they were hired by someone for a more difficult job – like retrieving the gemstone for the Elven King – but it was rarely something exciting. It had been decades since the last rampant dragon, and Trolls rarely showed themselves anymore. Once in a while, a couple of Trolls would try and rob the villages closest to the border, but they had knights there who had it all under control.

The knights would usually just travel around the kingdoms looking for places and people they could help unless they were summoned. Not as exciting as Jongdae had thought, but it was still a thousand times more appealing than anything he could have done in the Human Kingdom.

He looked around at everyone around him, joking and having fun by the fire, the flames reflecting in their eyes, faces lit with laughter.

He really fucking wanted this.

Junmyeon caught his eye and he knew the older boy felt the same. This was where they belonged. Now they just had to convince the knights.


	9. A brief stop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit short, but I hope you guys will like it anyway ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter VIII**

_**A brief stop** _

 

 

Early next morning, Jongdae found himself on a horse, riding with Yixing whom he was holding onto for dear life. He had never actually been on a horse before as the large animals made him nervous. Yixing had been very kind to offer Jongdae to ride with him and hadn’t made fun of him once even when Baekhyun and Chanyeol had sniggered at him for getting startled by a horse sneezing.

They had all helped pack down the tents, Junmyeon and Jongdae having borrowed one of them to sleep in during the night. Jongin and Yixing had shared with the other knights instead.

Junmyeon was riding with Sehun beside Jongdae and Yixing, lost in their own conversation. Jongdae was a little jealous of how well the other Human had reacted to the horses despite never having been on one either. He looked right at home.

The nature around them was breathtaking. Rolling hills of lush green grass divided by glittering streams and flourishing forests. The wind was soft and warm on his skin, the sun shining from a clear sky. The air smelled so fresh compared to that of Dorwall and Jongdae savoured every breath he took. Birdsong was a constant background noise and it seemed everywhere he looked, something was moving. He even swore he saw a deer peering out at them from the trees.

Since no real nature was left in Paneia, it was rare to see any wild animals as most had been hunted down a long time ago.

Yixing had informed him that they were in Eirior, the Elven Kingdom and that it shouldn’t be more than a day and a half of travel before they reached Inaenamelle. They hadn’t passed by any towns yet, but Jongdae couldn’t wait to see how the Elves lived.

A loud laugh broke Jongdae out of his thoughts and he looked behind him where Chanyeol and Jongin were laughing like idiots at some story Baekhyun was telling in that weird mix of languages they used.

   “Does everyone speak like that out here?” Jongdae asked Yixing curiously.

Yixing looked back with a smile and shook his head. “No. Most people in every kingdom speak or understand your Common Tongue, so that’s what all knights usually communicate with as we are from different kingdoms. But we’ve been with each other for so long now and taught each other our languages, and it just evolved from there. I’m not sure other knight squads would fully understand us either. It’s like our own little language.”

With a nod, Jongdae tried to listen more closely to what they said. Their mix of languages was so smooth and fluent he actually had a hard time picking up anything he understood. He was really impressed and wondered if they would maybe teach him some. Learning Elvish or some other language would be really cool. And if he did join the knights, he would probably need to learn it anyway.

As he was looking around, his eyes landed on Minseok who was riding up front beside Kyungsoo, and he paused. The leader hadn’t said one word to either Human since the night before, he had barely spared them a glance. Why Chanyeol had said they would like him, Jongdae didn’t really understand because the leader clearly didn’t want anything to do with the Humans.

   “Is he always this cold towards strangers?” Jongdae asked before he could stop himself. Yixing glanced down at him with a confused frown and Jongdae nodded towards Minseok. When the Elf finally understood who he was talking about, he smiled almost sadly and shook his head.

   “Please excuse his behaviour. Minseok-nim takes his role as our leader very seriously. We are the only ones who know about his war right now, so he feels it is his responsibility to warn everyone and make sure they’re safe. He takes on this big burden but doesn’t want to worry us, so he pulls back into himself. He’ll be himself again once we’ve spread the word.”

Jongdae was a little speechless and he honestly felt bad. He should stop judging people so quickly. And Yixing was right. They all had a responsibility to warn the kingdoms and make sure the war would be stopped in time. The whole realm relied on them reaching everyone before the Humans could start the war. They were a part of something much bigger than he could comprehend, and now he was starting to feel stressed with it all. He couldn’t even imagine what Minseok must feel like if he really did feel responsible for it all.     

They rode on in silence, Jongdae’s head a mess of swirling thoughts.

⬣

They had ridden for hours. Jongdae’s ass and legs were hurting so bad and he was sure he wouldn’t be walking without wincing for days. He could see Junmyeon was shifting around as well, starting to feel uncomfortable on the horse, but the knights seemed like they didn’t feel a thing. Not even Baekhyun was complaining so Jongdae didn’t say anything either, though he found it hard not to whine.

They hadn’t seen anything but open hills for a while now but were currently heading towards a forest. The sun was high and Jongdae had started to sweat, so he was only happy to finally get some shade.

The forest consisted of big trees with huge canopies, allowing the sunlight to filter through to the ground, making the insects fluttering around glow like fireflies. Without the light breeze, the air was warmer in the forest and with the sounds of buzzing insects, Jongdae started feeling a bit drowsy. A nap would be wonderful right about now.

It was like they all relaxed, any tensions vanishing. Even Minseok up front seemed to soften up a bit, his shoulders no longer as tense and he even cracked a smile at something Kyungsoo said.

Something in one of the trees caught his eye and he blinked a couple of times. Was that a house?

He was so busy staring at the treehouse in wonder that he hadn’t even noticed they were suddenly in the middle of a village.

Eyes wide and mouth open, he looked around trying to take it all in. Beautifully crafted houses made of what looked like woven branches, with windows of stained glass and all decorated with beautiful plants and colourful flowers. There were houses both on the ground and in the trees, the treehouses connected by canopy walkways. Everything was built entirely around nature and blended in perfectly. It honestly looked like the village had just grown right out of the forest.

Elves were milling about doing their daily business, each and every one of them inhumanely beautiful, and all tall with pointy ears like Chanyeol and Yixing. They all exuded a gracefulness Jongdae had never seen in any Human.

The Elven language was smooth and silvery, silky words forming a murmuring choir in the village.

They were greeted by kids cheering, gathering around the knights with big, excited smiles. Yixing helped Jongdae dismount the horse, the Human nearly falling on his face as he was too busy looking around than where he was going to put his feet.

Yixing, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun immediately ran off with a small horde of the kids, laughing loudly as they played around.

An older woman with long, silver hair and kind eyes walked up to greet them. She had a feeling of authority about her and Jongdae was sure she was in charge of the village. Minseok bowed deeply, the knights following and Junmyeon and Jongdae quickly did the same as well.

Jongdae felt a little uncomfortable as he had noticed a few Elves staring at him and Junmyeon, clearly aware that they were Humans. Or at least that they weren’t like the others. Their eyes were more curious than anything but it was still unnerving.

Minseok spoke with the elder in perfect Elvish, his voice smooth and soothing.

Jongdae inched closer to Sehun and mumbled in a low voice. “Why are we here?” This village clearly wasn’t the capital.

   “Provisions,” Sehun mumbled back, eyeing Jongdae out of the corner of his eye. “We’re running low and now we have to feed you two as well.”

Elves started coming out with baskets full of food and Jongdae helped the knights pack up the horses. The animals were carrying quite the load by now, Jongdae hoped they could take it.

   “What do you pay for all of this?” Jongdae asked. He wasn’t sure the knights had any money, wasn’t sure where they would even get the money as it didn’t sound like they took payments to help.

   “Nothing,” Sehun said. “We’ve helped this village before a couple of times, so they provide us with food when we’re in the area. It’s usually how we get our food. The order helps wherever they are needed, and people pay us back with food and shelter when we need it.”

   “That’s amazing,” Junmyeon said and Jongdae agreed. Where they came from, everything had to be bought with money. Trades like this would never even be considered and there was always a catch to any deal. Everything was so much more in harmony outside of the wall. So different from Paneia. Better, honestly. He could see now why most Nature Sprites didn’t care for Humans, they were too greedy.

It seemed they would take a small break before they continued their journey as everyone had scattered once their horses were packed. Most of the knights had run off to play with the kids or to visit someone they knew. Junmyeon had wandered off somewhere with Sehun without telling Jongdae and now he was alone with the horses.

Feeling awkward and a bit out of place, he decided to stay and try and bond with Yixing’s horse. He wasn’t sure if he would get his own and was at the moment fully content with just riding with Yixing, so it couldn’t hurt to try and get on the horse’s good side.

The horse was scarily tall but was admittedly a beautiful animal with its shiny black coat and long, wavy mane.

He plucked a handful of grass and carefully held his hand out to the horse, palm open so it hopefully wouldn’t bite him. The horse grabbed the grass, Jongdae flinching slightly as its muzzle touched his hand.

A light voice suddenly spoke up behind him and Jongdae startled, spinning around to find a child looking up at him curiously. He wasn’t sure if it was a boy or a girl, as the child had very delicate features and long, blue hair and they were wearing a tunic, so that didn’t help much either. The child spoke again in the velvety Elven language and Jongdae understood nothing.

   “I – I don’t know, I’m sorry,” he said, feeling his face get a little warm as the child frowned at him and said something again.

   “He’s asking if you’re a Human,” a soft voice said beside him. Jongdae was honestly shocked as he saw that it was Minseok, the leader looking a lot less hostile now that he wasn’t frowning anymore. He was looking at Jongdae with what looked like a playful glint in his eyes and Jongdae had to look away, feeling a bit flustered all of a sudden.

Instead, he looked back at the child and nodded with an awkward smile. Minseok said something in Elvish and the boy grinned widely, saying something with a laugh as he stepped closer. Jongdae’s eyes widened as Minseok let out a chuckle at what the boy said, looking at Jongdae with a small grin. “He’s saying your ears look funny.”

   “Oh,” Jongdae said stupidly, not really knowing how to react. He reached up to touch his own ears, feeling a little self-conscious. “I guess they do compared to yours, yeah.”

Minseok translated again and the boy laughed before waving at them and running away. That wasn’t strange at all.   

   “We’ll leave in a couple of minutes,” Minseok said after they couldn’t see the boy anymore. “I just need to drag the others away from their playing first.” He chuckled again, eyes crinkling slightly as he smiled. He looked so much younger when he smiled, like a completely different person.

He left, leaving Jongdae feeling stunned. 


	10. Inaenamelle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the previous chapter was so short and this one's short as well, I thought I might as well do a double update ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter IX**

_**Inaenamelle** _

 

****

They arrived at Inaenamelle the next day around noon. Jongdae’s whole body was hurting from travelling on horseback for so long, but the first sight of the city towering up in the horizon distracted him from the pain.

The Elven capital was huge. Unlike most other cities they had seen, the capital was not built in a forest but everything was still built in the same way with woven wood. Tall buildings made of light coloured wood with archways and tall spires, woven with intricate details. Here and there stone had been used for fundament or decoration, and most windows were of stained glass.

Though the buildings towered over each other, it never seemed as cramped as it had been in Dorwall. The roads were covered with patterned stone and where there weren’t building or road, there was nature. Nature was all over the city – grass, trees, climbing plants and flowers were everywhere. The city seemed alive in the same sense a forest would be.

The Elves barely looked up as the knights rode into the city. Onyx Lei knights were apparently more common in the capital.

They stopped just inside the city and dismounted their horses. They stalled their horses at the community stables and walked towards the palace. Even though the palace was quite far into the city, it could be seen from the very edge because of the tall towers and spires. It was made of white wood and it seemed as if it was shining when the sunlight hit it.

Jongdae felt so out of place in the city. Everything seemed so clean and pure, the Elves all dressed in beautiful clothing and there he was with his torn, stained clothes that definitely needed to be thrown out. Junmyeon was obviously feeling self-conscious as well as he kept dusting off his dirty suit, trying to smooth out all the wrinkles.

They were on their way to see the King and Queen, and Jongdae felt quite uncomfortable looking so roughed up. He wished they would have let him shower and change first, but there really was no time.

The palace was even more beautiful up close. It towered above them, looking strangely fragile with the way its walls were woven so intricately together. Huge windows with stained glass let in the sun, the coloured glass arranged in beautiful mosaic paintings depicting the nature of the kingdom.

The massive entrance hall was bathed in an array of colours from the sunlight shining through the stained windows. It gave the room a strange, magical feel to it. Kind of like being in a dream.

A servant met them there, bowed deeply and led them towards the throne room without a word. Their owl must have reached them and let them know they were coming.

They entered a huge, circular room that was lit up by massive windows, these without coloured glass. Everything in the room was so white and with the sun shining in hitting tiny particles floating around, it looked like the air around them was sparkling. The walls were covered in blooming climbing plants and a canopy of flowers hung over the two thrones standing on a heightened circular platform in the back of the room.

The King and Queen sat on their thrones, both wearing long, silver robes, their crowns made of thin, woven silver. They looked every bit as regal and intimidating as Jongdae had thought, but their eyes were warm and friendly. A big difference to the President of Paneia.

When the servant stopped them and stepped away, they all bowed.

The King greeted them in Elvish with a warm smile and gestured for them to come closer. Chanyeol stepped forward and bowed again before gently pulling out the gemstone they had been hired to get. Looking very pleased, the King held his hand out towards the gem and a servant hurried up to take it. The King spoke, his voice loud and clear in the room though he didn’t even speak that loudly, but he was still speaking Elvish so Jongdae didn’t understand. He must not have been informed that the knights were travelling with Humans.

Chanyeol bowed again and stepped back into line with the other knights. Minseok stepped forward this time, bowed again and started speaking Elvish. Though Jongdae didn’t understand, he knew the leader was explaining the situation. The looks of confusion on the King’s and Queen’s faces turned to shock as he got further into his explanation.

Jongdae must have zoned out for a bit as he was startled back to reality as the King addressed him loudly, “Human!”

He glanced nervously at Junmyeon as they both stepped forward, bowing again like they had seen the knights do.

   “First of all, I would like to thank you for your help. I’ve been told you played a great part in getting back our gemstone.” The King paused, folding his hands as he thought for a second. “Now, you’ve brought us some very troubling news. Though your kingdom has never been particularly friendly, I never thought your President would go this far. I understand from the knights that the citizens of Paneia have yet to learn of these plans, but I must ask you anyway, do you have any other information that could be of use? I am afraid my knowledge of Humans is quite limited and I have yet to visit your kingdom.”

Hoping Junmyeon would have something, anything, to say, Jongdae glanced at the older boy. If any of the two would have information it would be him as he was the one working for the Government. Junmyeon gave him a small nod and looked up at the King. “I am afraid we don’t know much more than you do, Your Majesty. I worked for the Government for a while, but word hasn’t even spread there yet. I do fear they are planning something bigger than we expect though. Magi are disappearing from our kingdom and rumours are the Government is recruiting them for something. And with the special ability of your gemstone… they must have needed it for something important. We have unfortunately found nothing in the documents we took, but I do know that we shouldn’t underestimate them.”

The King and Queen shared a look, having a silent conversation with their eyes, and then the King nodded before turning back to the knights. “My advisers and I will take a look at these documents you speak of. Meanwhile, as my guests, I will make sure you have everything you may need. Just speak to my good servant here and he will help you.”

Minseok and the knights thanked the King profusely and Chanyeol handed the satchel with the documents to another servant. The servant who greeted them when they arrived showed them out as well, stopping when they reached the entrance hall.

   “Is there anything I can do for you?”                                

   “Yeah, actually,” Sehun spoke up. “We could all really use a bath, and these two are going to need some new clothes.” He smirked as he pointed at Jongdae and Junmyeon, wrinkling his nose at their dirty clothes though his own weren’t in a much better state.

Before the Humans could even begin to protest, the other knights cheered and dragged them along and suddenly Jongdae was standing almost bare in the middle of a room with some guy measuring parts of him he didn’t even know had to be measured, poking him with needles.

After being measured he had been ushered into a large bathroom where a bath had already been set up for him, the water a suspicious pinkish colour and the whole room smelling like roses. He wasn’t complaining though, the warm water felt amazing and it was so refreshing to get rid of all the sweat and dirt from the last couple of days.

He soaked in the water until his fingers turned wrinkly and the water was only lukewarm. His new clothes lay ready and waiting for him by the door as he stepped out of the water even though he hadn’t heard anyone enter the room.

His old clothes had been removed which was fine as they were too ruined to try and patch up, but they had left his ID card lying on top of his new clothes. He had completely forgotten he’d had that in his pocket. It felt weird looking at it now. 

They had made him a long-sleeved tunic in a warm cinnamon colour with dark embroidered details along the linings, a pair of dark brown pants and some new leather boots as well as a cloak. The fabrics all looked quite stiff but were surprisingly comfortable.

He looked at himself in the mirror and had a hard time getting used to what he saw. He looked so different… he looked almost like an Elf. He stuffed his old ID card in his pocket and left the room.

Junmyeon met him in the hallway as he headed back to find the knights. The older boy’s clothes were similar to Jongdae’s, only his tunic was blue and his pants dark grey. He looked like a prince.

The knights were waiting for them in the entrance hall, all looking a lot more refreshed and comfortable now they’d had a bath and some clean clothes. The palace must have had new uniforms ready.

They looked up as the two Humans entered, smiling widely as they saw the new clothes. Yixing and Jongin gushed over how good they looked while Sehun nodded approvingly.

Baekhyun complained that he was hungry and Chanyeol was quick to suggest a tavern he knew. He talked and talked about how good the food was as he led them through the city until Kyungsoo told him to shut up.

The tavern was smaller than Jongdae had expected, but he immediately felt right at home. The windows were very small, not letting much sunlight in, so everything was lit by torches and candles giving a cosy atmosphere. Compared to most of the city, everything in the tavern was made with dark wood and warm colours. A small band was playing in the corner, the happy tunes of their instruments setting the mood along with the quiet murmur and laughter of the other guests. A delicious smell of food had Jongdae’s mouth watering. Elven girls in what looked like traditional uniforms flitted around between the tables, serving food and drinks.

An older woman hollered loudly at the sight of them and nearly tackled Chanyeol to the ground in a hug. The Elf greeted her happily, only grimacing a little as she reached up and pinched his cheeks hard.

The woman was quite small for an Elf, her hair long and silver and she had deep laugh lines around her mouth and eyes. Her face was kind and Jongdae was instantly reminded of his own grandmother.

She proceeded to greet them all with a hug, Jongdae having to choke back a laugh as Kyungsoo let out a yelp and blushed furiously when she pinched his butt. Baekhyun and Sehun preened happily as she gushed over them, while Yixing, Minseok, and Jongin quietly accepted her affectious greetings, smiling softly at the older lady.

Jongdae was surprised when, after giving Yixing’s cheeks a nice squeeze, she turned to him with a wide smile and held out her arms ready for a hug. For such a small woman, she sure had a lot of strength in her hug, and for a second he feared he would crack a rib or two. Not wanting to be disrespectful, and actually quite liking the old woman, Jongdae hugged her back though not as tightly as he was afraid he was actually going to break her.

She pinched his cheeks as well before moving on to Junmyeon, who looked just as winded by her hug as Jongdae had been.

When she finally let Junmyeon go, she ushered them over to a table in the corner of the room and ordered them to pull other tables together to fit them all, then she disappeared back into the kitchen.

   “I’m sorry about Soora,” Chanyeol said as they all settled around the table. “It’s been a long time since I’ve last seen her, and she’s always wanted to meet you guys.”

   “I really like her,” Baekhyun beamed. “She reminds me of my halmeoni.” 

Kyungsoo still looked quite shook and was staring at the table with wide eyes, ears red as Jongin gently patted his head, trying to stifle his giggles in his hand.

Sehun looked around, sniffing the air hungrily. “Do we get a menu or something? I’m starving.”

Chanyeol shook his head. “No, she makes a couple of dishes each night, but you don’t get to decide. She’ll give you whatever she thinks you’ll like the best and she’s yet to be wrong. Don’t worry, her food is amazing. I promise you’ll love it.”

Though not looking quite pleased, Sehun nodded and they fell into small talk around the table as they waited. Jongdae had ended up between Kyungsoo and Sehun, and at first he felt quite awkward as they weren’t who he had spoken the most with, but then Jongin leaned over Kyungsoo to ask him something and just like that he was a part of the bigger conversation he’d been having with Kyungsoo and Yixing. Jongdae felt himself relax a lot more now he felt more included, and he was so grateful to Jongin to give him a chance.

One of the serving girls appeared at their table with two treys of full tankards of some golden liquid Jongdae couldn’t identify. She was a quite pretty Elven girl, who apparently took a fancy to Junmyeon as she smiled prettily at him, batting her eyelashes as he thanked her politely for his drink. She left with a wink and a blown kiss towards the Human and the knights roared with laughter as Junmyeon’s face turned a bright red.

Finally, their food was brought out, two other serving girls this time, but the boys had long forgotten about teasing Junmyeon as they hungrily eyed the food being placed in front of them. They had all been served some kind of delicious smelling meat and vegetable stew along with some flatbread. It tasted absolutely amazing and even managed to shut them all up for a while as they all dug in.

The conversation picked back up slowly as they continued to eat, all ordering another portion. Their tankards with what Jongdae had been informed was honey mead, were never empty for long before someone had filled them again and the mood around the table rose as the time went on. Even Minseok was smiling and laughing.

Jongdae no longer felt awkward or left out as he freely spoke and joked with the knights, even managed to make Sehun laugh and Chanyeol nearly spit out his drink, which felt like a great accomplishment. It felt a little bit like he had known them for a lot longer than just a couple of days and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun.


	11. On the road again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like it! ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter  X**

_**On the road again** _

 

Jongdae woke up, feeling refreshed and too comfortable to want to move. He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept that great. The tavern they ate at the day before had rooms as well, so once they had seen a bit more of the city and had dinner at the tavern as well, Soora had only been happy to give them some rooms.

The rooms were quite small, only just large enough for four beds, a dresser and a small pathway between them, but it was very homey and smelled like flowers. The beds were soft with sheets made of what Jongdae thought must be silk.

He had shared a room with Junmyeon, Sehun, and Yixing – all who were still quietly sleeping in their beds. It had felt quite crowded at first, but as he was trying to fall asleep, feeling suddenly a bit homesick being this far into a strange kingdom, it was actually quite nice to know he wasn’t alone.

It was a while before the others started waking up, but Jongdae had only been happy to stay in the soft bed and relax. 

Once they had all woken up and found the will to actually get out of bed and get dressed, the smell of breakfast had started creeping into the room from the kitchen down below. Jongdae’s stomach growled as he put on his new clothes, still feeling quite weird wearing something that different from his usual clothes.

They met the others who were already seated at the tables they had used the day before. As they hadn’t heard anything from the King yet, they decided that it couldn’t hurt to take some time to eat breakfast before doing anything else.

Soora came bounding from the kitchen as they got seated, insisting on giving them all another hug. She was speaking a mile a minute and Jongdae understood absolutely nothing until Yixing took pity on him and said she was asking how they liked the rooms and how they slept. The older woman didn’t wait for any answers before running back to the kitchen though, and not many minutes later breakfast was brought out.

Plates and plates of fresh fruit and bread, as well as what Jongdae could only describe as fruitcakes. Like the day before, Soora’s food was absolutely delicious and Jongdae ate until he started feeling just a little bit nauseous.

When they still hadn’t heard anything from the King after eating, they decided to go exploring in the city. Baekhyun and Sehun wanted to go shopping and Junmyeon and Chanyeol tagged along, leaving Jongdae with Jongin, Minseok, Kyungsoo, and Yixing. None of them really knew what they actually wanted to do, so they just ended up wandering around aimlessly.

He quite liked Jongin and Yixing as they were really easy to speak with, and he found that Kyungsoo was actually quite hilarious when he wanted to be. Minseok was quiet for most of the time, but Jongdae figured he was probably worried that they hadn’t heard anything yet. It felt like they were wasting precious time goofing around when they had a potential war hanging over their heads, but Jongdae tried to enjoy the city nonetheless.

And he really loved this city. Though it was big and crowded, it never felt as suffocating as it did in Dorwall. The air was fresher and everything just seemed more open.

They had art all over the city, either something man-made in form of strange sculptures or water instalments or in form of trees and plants. The city was mostly made up of white and light colours, but with the sun reflecting in the stained-glass windows, small bursts of colours would appear whenever the sun hit the right angle.

They wandered around, just taking everything in and enjoying the atmosphere of Inaenamelle. Every once in a while, they would check out one of the small stores they passed where they sold delicate jewellery or beautifully crafted glass sculptures. These small shops were littered all over the city – glass was something the Elves greatly enjoyed and took pride in making, Yixing informed him.

After a couple of hours, they decided to head back to the inn as they were all quite tired, as well as a bit hungry now they neared lunchtime. They never made it that far though as the Knights’ huge owl suddenly swooped down out of nowhere and settled itself comfortably on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. There was a small scroll attached to one of its legs and Kyungsoo pulled it off to read it.

   “The King asks to see us now,” he said after reading it. “Baekhyun and the others have already seen this and they’ll meet us at the palace.”     

And so they turned around and headed for the palace instead. The others were waiting for them in the entrance hall along with the same servant who had greeted them the previous day. He showed them into the throne room again where they were met with the King alone this time, the Queen’s throne empty beside him.

   “Greetings,” the King spoke with a smile, holding out his arms in a welcoming gesture. “Thank you for responding so fast to my message. My advisers and I have looked at the documents you brought us and have started planning the necessary precautions to make sure we will be ready for whatever the Humans have planned. Furthermore, I have sent my best spies to Paneia to try and get more information. In the meantime, I want you to travel to the other kingdoms and meet with their rulers as my representatives. I would have sent my own people, but I feel you will be the most of use. I’ll give you back your documents, as well as letters from me to each of the rulers with my thoughts and plans. I expect you to deliver these and tell them of your discoveries as you did for me.”

He gestured with his right hand and a servant walked out with the satchel of documents they had brought and handed it to Minseok. The servant then turned to a surprised Jongdae and handed him a velvet pouch with something that jingled inside. Junmyeon received once as well.

   “The Knights already have a seal of blessing from each kingdom allowing them to travel freely, so I give you these in case you need to prove where your loyalties lie. Show people these seals and they’ll know you are under my kingdom and protection.”

   “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Jongdae quickly stuttered out and bowed deeply along with Junmyeon. He was almost in awe. He had been given the blessings of the King! It seemed so surreal.  

The rest of the knights bowed and thanked the King as well before they were showed out back to the entrance hall. The pouch jingled in Jongdae’s hand and he was itching to see the seal he had been given.

He carefully pulled the strings and opened the pouch, pouring the contents out into his palm. It was a round silver coin in a long, delicate chain. On the coin was what must be the Elven coat of armour – a leaf made with intricate patterns running along the bottom, taking up about half of the coin, and stars covering the rest. Something written in Elvish ran along the borders. It was beautiful.

He put it on, hiding the seal under his clothes, the coin cool against his skin.

   “The King has asked of me to give you anything you might need for your journey,” the servant said. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

   “If you can spare us two horses, we would be very grateful,” Minseok asked with a respectful bow of his head.

   “It will be done,” the servant bowed deeply. “I will have two horses sent to where you are staying within the hour.”

The leader thanked him and they left the palace. As promised, two horses were waiting for them when they arrived at the tavern, fully tacked and saddled up, and Jongdae was honestly impressed with how fast the servant had handled it. They sure were fast.

Both horses were a deep, brown colour with long, wavy manes. Both were also terrifyingly tall, to Jongdae at least. For an Elf, they were probably just the right height.

   “So which one do you want?” Junmyeon asked cheerfully, nudging Jongdae. “You pick first, I don’t mind.”

   “Which one I want?” Jongdae asked slowly. His eyes widened and he tensed up as he realized what Junmyeon meant. The horses were meant for them of course. The knights’ horses wouldn’t be able to carry all the extra load, so it made sense to get two new horses. He just hadn’t really thought that far. He was going to have to ride on his own.      

   “I… uhm… the one on the left?” he mumbled, honestly not caring. Junmyeon shrugged and walked over to the other horse, already trying to bond with it, apparently not intimidated by the horse towering above him. Jongdae eyed the horse he had picked. He should probably try and bond with it as well seeing as they would probably be spending a lot of time together from now on.

He slowly walked closer to the beast, having to tilt his head up slightly as he got closer. Hopefully, they had gotten him a friendly one. “Hello,” he said, holding his hand up for the horse to sniff before trying to pet it. “Nice horsie. Do you have a name?” He looked at the tacks to see if there was a nameplate or something like he had seen on the knights’ horses. There was nothing though. Huh, maybe it didn’t have one yet.

   “What should we call you then?” Jongdae asked, mostly to himself. He came up blank though. It was probably best if he waited until he had spent some more time with it anyway. The horse suddenly whinnied loudly, startling Jongdae and he glared at it. Not off to a good start.

   “Alright, listen up,” Minseok spoke loudly to get everyone’s attention and Jongdae turned to him as the leader walked out from the tavern followed by Kyungsoo and Yixing. “We’ll be going to Aereithel first and speak to the Faery Council. It will take about three or four days, so we’ll leave as soon as we’re all packed up. Go get ready, hurry up. We’ve sent our owl to inform them of our arrival.”

Jongdae sighed and glared at his new horse. Okay then, they were already doing this. But he had seen all the knights ride and when he had been riding with Yixing it had seemed easy enough. How hard could it be really?

⬣

It was quite hard it turned out apparently. Just getting on the horse had nearly ended up with Jongdae sprawled out on the ground, and the simple task of making the horse move forward… Jongdae had started out literally walking in circles. Yixing had tried to teach him the basics before they set off, but it was like no matter what Jongdae did, the horse didn’t understand his signals. So, for now, his horse was tied to Yixing’s horse who was riding in front of him, Jongdae’s horse following easily.

Even Junmyeon, who had seemed otherwise confident, had a bit of trouble as well, and his horse had been tied to Sehun’s.

He was super uncomfortable in the new saddle as it hadn’t been worn by use yet and he was sweating from the sun burning down on them, no comfort of any shade as there were only rolling hills for miles around them.

They were heading for Miriliveth, the Faery Kingdom. The Faeries were elusive creatures so there hadn’t been much information about them in any of the books Jongdae used to read. He was so excited to see what the kingdom was like.

Sehun was really excited to go home as he hadn’t stopped smiling since they left Inaenamelle. Strangely, Kyungsoo seemed quite excited as well, his eyes wide and happy as he spoke with Jongin. When Jongdae asked Sehun why he was so happy, the Faery laughed loudly.

   “Well that’s because he’s a Faery,” Sehun said, rolling his eyes.

Both Junmyeon and Jongdae stared at him in total shock. Kyungsoo was a Faery? Jongdae had actually started thinking the knight was a Nymph like Baekhyun, but Faery made sense now he thought about it. Now he had gotten to know the other boy better, he could see the carefree and playful traits Faeries were supposed to have.  

So if Yixing and Chanyeol were Elves, Sehun and Kyungsoo were Faeries… that must mean Jongin and Minseok were Nymphs like Baekhyun. Otherwise, the knights were hiding their excitement at going home pretty well.

   “Ah, I can’t wait to finally see home again.” Sehun’s smile was radiant and he sat restlessly as if he wanted to just take off and fly right home. “It’s been so long since I’ve been there.”

   “Are you from Aereithel?” Junmyeon asked.

   “No, I’m from a small village by the coast. We probably won’t get to go all the way there, but it’ll still be nice to see Miriliveth again. I’ve missed all the flowers.” Sehun’s smile was serene and for a second he had a faraway look in his eyes as if he was picturing his home in his mind.  

   “What is the kingdom like?” Jongdae asked curiously. “I haven’t been able to find much information about Faeries in any of our books.”

   “We don’t really like outsiders much. Most of our villages are quite small so anyone from other kingdoms usually break something if they find their way to where we live,” Sehun explained.

He continued to explain how most of their cities and villages would look like flower fields to outsiders who didn’t know what to look for. Most Faeries preferred to stay in their small form and thus lived in tiny houses looking like, or actually made of, flowers. Sehun came from one of these villages, his home having been a house made to look like bluebells. It sounded absolutely magical and Jongdae suddenly wished he could shrink just once to see one of these houses inside.

While Sehun came from one of these villages, Kyungsoo came from one of the few cities that were built Human-sized. Like Aereithel, they had a couple of cities and towns build for the Faeries who preferred to live in their Human form. Most of these places were fairly newly built, and the Faeries had gotten help from the Elves with the constructions, so the architecture was similar to the Elven cities with woven wood and glass.

   “Soo doesn’t like being in his little form,” Chanyeol grinned teasingly as he joined the conversation out of nowhere.

   “Yeah, it makes him look cute and he hates it,” Baekhyun sniggered, cheekily elbowing Kyungsoo as he rode past him.

Kyungsoo’s left eye twitched but he kept looking forward. Instead, he flicked his hand towards the two cackling knights and the ground below them suddenly erupted into small pebbles that shot up into the sky only to rain back down on them. The two whined loudly and scampered away to avoid further harm from the falling pebbles.

   “What…?” Junmyeon asked with wide eyes, speaking Jongdae’s thoughts. That must have been Kyungsoo’s magic.

   “He can manipulate the earth,” Jongin explained with a proud smile as he looked at the smaller knight. “Can lift huge rocks easily, make them float, crack boulders and such. It’s quite amazing.”

Jongdae could have sworn Kyungsoo’s ears turned red but it was difficult to see with the sun in his eyes. The knight rolled his eyes and glared fondly at Jongin. “Says the one who can teleport,” he huffed.

   “You can teleport?” Jongdae blurted out before he could stop himself. He suddenly remembered how the knight had disappeared and reappeared the first time they met. Teleportation, that was so cool!

   I – yeah.” Jongin blushed under the sudden attention as Junmyeon and Jongdae were openly gaping at him. Kyungsoo’s magic was pretty cool and all, but teleportation! “But I have to have been there before so I can picture exactly where I want to teleport. And I can only take one person with me before I get too tired. It’s not that amazing really.”

   “Jonginnie, you’re still practising. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Kyungsoo scolded mildly, giving the other knight a disapproving look.

The two continued bickering, now lost in their own world and Jongdae shared a look with Junmyeon. They sure had an interesting relationship. Jongdae wondered if there was something more there.

⬣

Jongdae nearly fell off his horse when Minseok finally called for making camp. They had ridden for hours, stopped for lunch and ridden for hours again. His whole body ached and he longed to finally get down from his horse to properly stretch his legs. His ass was completely numb.

They had decided to make camp in a small cluster of trees as the wind had picked up quite a bit, Jongdae actually worried that their tents would have flown away had they made camp in the open.

Putting up the tents turned out to be easier than Jongdae had expected, and despite never having done it before, he found himself learning quickly. Junmyeon and the others had bought another tent as well as a pair of sleeping bags when they went shopping earlier so that they all had a comfortable place to sleep. Despite it not being a big deal, Jongdae actually felt quite excited having gotten a tent – it made him feel like a part of the group.

   “You okay with sharing with me again?” Junmyeon asked as they worked together in putting up the last tent. “It seems they already have fixed sleeping partners and I don’t want to mess with that.”

   “Of course,” Jongdae agreed, slightly relieved. He had feared the older boy would have paired up with Sehun and left Jongdae to find someone else. Not that he would mind sharing with any of the other boys, but he just felt more comfortable with Junmyeon. The older Human smiled back at him and they continued working in silence.

Once they had finished setting up the tent, they joined Sehun and Yixing by the fire Chanyeol had made earlier. Where the Elf – and the other knights for that matter – had gone, Jongdae had no idea. Sleeping maybe?

Yixing smiled at them as they sat down by the fire, handing them a pack of what looked like crackers. Jongdae accepted one gratefully, his stomach rumbling. The flavour was sweeter than he had thought, almost like a cake. Honey and some sort of berries mashed together with some kind of grain. It was delicious.

   “Thank you, again, for buying that extra tent for us,” Junmyeon said to Sehun and Yixing, politely bowing his head. “I’m sorry we don’t have any money to pay you back.”

   “Don’t worry about it,” Yixing smiled, patting Junmyeon on the shoulder. “As long as you two don’t mind sharing. The boys are very picky about who they are sharing with. It was quite a mess before we all figured it out.”

Sehun snorted out a laugh, rolling his eyes. “You don’t say. Minseok can’t share with anyone messy, his head would explode, so he sleeps alone. And we tried separating dumb and dumber once as well, they whined for like a week. It was awful.”

When Junmyeon and Jongdae looked confused, Yixing laughed and mouthed ‘Baekhyun and Chanyeol’, as Sehun kept talking.

   “I share with Kyungsoo because he and Jongin are too stupid to just sort out their feelings.” He sighed deeply like it physically pained him and it honestly sounded like he had been holding all this in for a long time. “It honestly hurts to watch them dance around each other.”

   “Sehun-ah,” Yixing reprimanded softly. “Don’t be so hard on them. They take their duty as knights very seriously, you know that. They don’t want to have their personal life interfere.”

   “Admit it hyung,” Sehun teased. “They drive you crazy too.”

While he didn’t say anything, Yixing was unable to bite back a smile, making it obvious he agreed with Sehun. Jongdae observed them quietly. In such a tight-knit group there was bound to be many different types of relationships, and it was fascinating to see how the boys interacted with each other and how they acted depending on who they were with. They really were close and it was obvious they all cared about each other no matter how much they teased.

   “What’re you girls gossiping about?” Baekhyun asked loudly, suddenly standing behind Jongdae. “Something juicy I hope, things have been so boring lately.”

Everyone just stared at him as he made himself comfortable by the fire. Boring wasn’t exactly the word Jongdae would use to describe the past few days. Far from it actually. Exciting. Terrifying. Those came a lot closer.

   “Why so quiet?” Baekhyun looked around suspiciously and then gasped dramatically. “Were you talking about _me_?”

   “You’re not interesting enough for that,” Sehun shot back with a smirk.

   “Respect your elders!” Baekhyun snapped with an offended pout, swiping out at Sehun’s leg.

Jongdae had to bite his tongue not to laugh as he heard Sehun mumble ‘old man’ under his breath, having to cough to cover up his chuckle as he made eye contact with the Faery. Baekhyun hadn’t heard it and had already moved on to some animated discussion with Junmyeon about something Jongdae didn’t really care to listen to. Instead, he happily accepted another couple of crackers from Yixing, munching contently on the sweet treats as he stared into the fire, feeling his body slowly start to relax and unwind after the long ride.

By dinnertime, all of the knights had shown up from wherever they had been and joined them by the fire. The spirit was high as the food was brought out, and somehow they ended up sharing stories again as they ate.

The Humans didn’t really have much to tell, having told pretty much their whole life stories the first time they met, but the knights still had plenty of stories.

Jongin told them, while having to stop every few seconds to laugh, how once they had stopped for provisions in a small village in Eirior and this old lady had approached Kyungsoo in a panic about something. The knight had rushed to her aid only to discover that it was just her fucking cat stuck in a tree.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun had another story about how they had a run-in with a group of Trolls one time they were close to the borders of Doreth. The two of them had been patrolling the borders of a small village when the Trolls had suddenly appeared in front of them. The knights had been so shocked they had just stared at the ugly creatures – who had stared right back at them, just as surprised. In the end, Baekhyun had blinded them all in a panic, that including Chanyeol, who had then accidentally lit Baekhyun’s cape on fire. And that had been when another patrol of knights from another squadron came to help them. They were still laughed at every time they met that squadron.      

They talked and laughed well into the evening until Minseok sent them all to bed, threatening them with the early morning. Though there were grumbles of displeasure, they followed his orders and all went to bed.

It sure felt nice to have his own sleeping bag and tent. And Junmyeon didn’t even snore.


	12. In the woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the wait you guys, my computer decided to just die on me and I'm still currently working on getting it up and running. It's a losing battle though - lucky for me I have everything backed up.   
> Hope you like it ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter XI**

_**In the woods** _

 

__

The wind from the day before had left fog in its wake. When they had woken up and gotten out of their tents, they had all been surprised by a fog as thick as a blanket. Jongdae could barely see as far as the tent furthest away. They had a tight schedule though and had decided to take the risk of travelling anyway. 

To make sure they stayed safe and kept together, they rode single file and had tied their horses together to keep them in line. They had been on the road for a while now but the fog hadn’t lessened up, and Jongdae really hoped that Minseok and Yixing up front knew where they were, because the fog had totally messed up the little sense of direction Jongdae had. 

If the fog wasn’t bad enough, they were also quite far into a dense pine forest. None of the, already very limited, sunlight reached the ground here so it was almost as if it was still nighttime. 

Everyone was tense, the dreary weather and eerie forest getting to them. They had tried speaking to lighten up the mood, but it was like the fog around them swallowed up any sound they made and after having to yell ‘what’ one too many times, they had just dropped it. 

It was so creepy with the way the fog muted everything. All he could hear was his own breathing and heartbeat as well as the sound of his horse’s hooves on the soft forest floor. 

The fog enveloped him like a cold and clammy blanket and Jongdae couldn’t wait to get out of it.

A sudden sound from somewhere next to him had Jongdae tensing up, heart jumping up in his throat. Was… was that a  growl ? 

His horse made a weird whinnying noise, stepping uneasily on the spot, its ears twisting and turning towards the trees. Jongdae tried carefully pulling on the reins to try and make the horse stop but to no avail.

   “K-Kyungsoo-ssi,” he called out to the knight riding in front of him, but the other boy couldn’t hear him as Jongdae’s voice was lost in the fog, and the knight was busy trying to deal with his own antsy horse. Jongdae could feel Sehun’s horse tugging on the rope tied to his saddle as well, as it too stepped in place anxiously. 

Something streaked past them and Jongdae’s head snapped towards the movement. A dark shadow. Was something circling them? 

Another shadow passed on his other side and suddenly he locked eyes with whatever it was. His blood ran cold and he opened his mouth to yell just as another knight screamed out what sounded like ‘rakka’.

There was a violent tugging on the rope holding them all together, it felt like something snapped and then the horse in front of Kyungsoo ripped loose and took off into the forest.

Baekhyun!

Jongdae’s horse whinnied loudly, almost a scream, and then the Human was flying as it took off after Baekhyun in complete panic. Jongdae screamed at it to stop, pulled on the reins, tried everything but nothing worked. It kept going at a blinding speed in between the trees, the trunks flying past in a blur and branches hitting Jongdae’s face like whips. 

Somewhere ahead of him he could faintly hear Baekhyun’s voice yelling but there was no way for him to help the knight.

A menacing growl came from somewhere to his left and Jongdae nearly fell off the horse as he spun around to look. It was hard to see as he was being jostled violently, but there was no mistaking the blurry shape. They were being followed. Hunted. 

On instinct, he raised his hand and sent a lightning bolt towards what was following them. He missed though, unable to keep his arm still enough to actually aim. 

He was about to try again when suddenly the horse stumbled beneath him and sent him flying head first towards the ground. All breath was knocked from his lungs as he landed and his vision was blurry, but he could clearly see the rear end of his horse disappearing into the fog. 

   “Come… come back here!” he wheezed out, coughing as he tried to sit up. 

He stood up on shaky legs, taking a second to steady himself. “Stupid fucking horse.” 

A branch snapped behind him and he spun around. Wild, yellow eyes stared back at him, a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth pulled into a snarl. 

A dire wolf. 

Jongdae had read about these beasts, knew they roamed some of the forests in Eirior but he hadn’t ever thought he would come face to face with one. It was enormous, head reaching up to his chest. 

The growl it let out rattled Jongdae to the bone and it was as if his whole body locked up. He felt both hot and cold all over, his heart beating in his throat. What should he do?! 

The beast took a menacing step closer and just like that Jongdae could move again. He stumbled backwards and raised his hand to try and zap the wolf but he was shaking so much he actually missed. Completely unaffected, the wolf kept slowly advancing towards him like it was daring him to run and Jongdae kept walking backwards. His foot caught on a branch and he stumbled, giving the wolf a perfect opportunity to launch at him. 

It felt like time slowed down as Jongdae saw the beast leaping at him, the teeth and claws coming closer to end his life. 

And then, out of nowhere, a huge, blurry shape soared into view and knocked the wolf to the ground. Jongdae stood shocked as his horse stomped on the giant wolf that was now trying to avoid the onslaught of hooves coming down on it. It gave him the time to take a deep breath and collect himself and this time his hand wasn’t shaking. 

The lightning bolt hit the wolf dead on and it yelped for a second as it spasmed and then it fell silent. 

Jongdae was panting like he had run a marathon, his blood pumping through his body so fast it felt like he was going to explode. He stared at the wolf in total disbelief at what had just happened. His body was tense and he had the urge to just take off and run away. 

He was startled back to reality as his horse nudged his arm with its muzzle. Dazed, he reached up to pet its neck. The horse was panting heavily as well so he let them have a few seconds to just stand there, trying to calm down. 

   “Thank you,” he mumbled, gently scratching the horse between the eyes like he had seen the knights do with their horses. The horse had just saved his damn life. 

Getting on the horse was surprisingly easy though his body felt like jelly. There was just one problem now. 

   “How do I find the others?” 

And like it actually understood him, the horse started walking confidently back towards what Jongdae hoped would be the other knights. Too tired to fight it, he decided to trust the horse and let it go wherever it wanted. Hopefully, the horse had better instincts than he did. 

They had ridden for quite some time and Jongdae had started to shake, this time from the cold. He had worked up a sweat but now that he was sitting still on the horse, surrounded by the clammy fog, his body was cooled down quite a bit. 

A noise up ahead had him pulling on the reins, the horse actually stopping. It didn’t seem nervous or scared though, so Jongdae let it move forward. 

   “–dae!” 

Jongdae perked up. Was that?!

   “Baekhyun! Jongdae!” 

It was the others! Sensing his excitement his horse sped up and suddenly, emerging out of the fog like an angel, Jongin appeared. Relief washed over Jongdae like a warm bucket of water. 

   “Oh my god!” Jongin rushed towards him, a smile spreading over his face. “You’re back! Are you okay? Are you hurt?” 

   “I’m - I’m okay I think,” Jongdae managed to get out, suddenly feeling a little choked up.

He let Jongin lead him and his horse back to the others where he was greeted with relieved smiles from everyone. He couldn’t see Minseok or Kyungsoo anywhere though, and Baekhyun wasn’t there either. 

He realized Chanyeol was pacing around, hair completely mussed up from running his hands through it every few seconds. The Elf’s eyes were wide and wild with worry and Yixing was trying to calm the other boy but it obviously wasn’t working. 

Baekhyun hadn’t made it back. 

   “What happened?” Jongdae asked, heartbeat speeding up. He had lost sight of Baekhyun after he fell off his horse, but he had hoped the other knight had found his way back. 

   “A pack of dire wolves,” Jongin said grimly. “We lost sight of you and Baekhyun but the rest of us managed to stay together and chase them off. We hoped Baekhyun would maybe be with you since you took off in the same direction but… Minseok and Kyungsoo are out looking for the two of you. I hope they find him.” 

   “That’s it!” Chanyeol exclaimed loudly, his voice slightly hysterical as he took a step away from Yixing. “I’m going! We need to find him!” 

   “Chanyeol, we have to stick together so we don’t get separated and lose each other in the forest,” Yixing spoke gently as if approaching a wild animal. “Be rational, please. They’ll find him. And you know Baekhyun can take care of himself.” 

Chanyeol was about to protest but Sehun stepped forward from where he had been clinging to Junmyeon. “He’s right hyung. Let them take care of it. I know they’ll find him. He’s okay, so don’t worry.” 

Baekhyun’s okay? How did he know that? 

He noticed Chanyeol kept checking something that was hanging from his neck and as he lifted it up again, Yixing smiled softly. “See, he’s still okay. Trust him.” 

   “What is that?” Jongdae asked Jongin quietly. From where he stood all he could see was something pink encased in a… glass ball?

   “Baekhyun’s flower,” Jongin explained. When Jongdae only looked more confused, the other boy smiled. “He’s is a Dryad Nymph, a tree spirit. When Dryads are born their soul is bound to a tree. They grow together, so if one gets sick the other does as well. Baekhyun has given Chanyeol a flower from his tree so he can always see how he is. As long as the flower isn’t wilted, Baekhyun is healthy. He’ll find his way back.” 

Jongdae nodded, the nervous knot in his stomach disappearing a little. He had felt bad for leaving Baekhyun out there, for forgetting about the other boy, but knowing he was at least unharmed helped him relax a little. 

So they all waited anxiously for any sign of movement from the fog surrounding them. All were tense and on edge, worried that maybe the wolves would come back. Jongdae’s horse came over and nudged his shoulder and he absentmindedly reached up to pet it. 

The horse saved his life, so he should probably find something else to call it than just horse. He sighed, coming up blank. Yixing had told him the horse was female, so he wanted something feminine yet cool. 

   “You’re hurt,” Yixing said quietly as he stopped beside Jongdae, having left the slightly hysterical Chanyeol to Sehun. “Let me help you.” 

Jongdae had completely forgotten about the scratches left by the swiping branches but now that Yixing mentioned it, they actually kind of stung. He kept still as Yixing slowly ran his hands over the scratches, healing them one by one. By the time he was done, Jongdae’s face was tingly and prickly all over. 

   “Thank you,” Jongdae said gratefully. “Could you… My horse, it’s hurt. Can you heal animals as well?” 

Yixing smiled and nodded, getting to work on Jongdae’s horse. Jongdae kept it still, gently scratching it between the eyes. Now that he looked at it, head slightly drooping in drowsiness as it let Yixing work on the scratches, it wasn’t as scary as it had first seemed. 

   “You two seemed to have bonded,” Yixing observed, smiling knowingly at Jongdae.

   “I… yeah, it saved my life,” Jongdae said, not embarrassed by the sudden fondness in his voice. They really had bonded okay? “I’m trying to come up with a name, but I’m not really good with that stuff. I don’t have any ideas.” 

   “Oh,” Yixing hummed in response. “Well, how about… Ráka? It means wolf seems fitting, no?”

Ráka … that was what they had been yelling earlier when they were attacked. Jongdae looked at his horse.  Ráka . Yeah, he liked that, it did seem fitting. 

Behind him, Chanyeol suddenly let out a strangled yell and Jongdae turned just in time to see the Elf take off towards the tree line. Three shadows emerged from the fog and Jongdae sagged with relief at the sight of the three missing knights. Baekhyun had barely made it another meter before Chanyeol literally plucked him off of his horse and crushed him to his chest. The small Nymph clung to the Elf for dear life, their foreheads pressed together. Jongdae looked away, feeling like he was intruding on something very intimate. 

Minseok and Kyungsoo dismounted their horses and greeted the others, having not spotted Jongdae yet. They both looked rather glum. 

   “We couldn’t find Jongdae,” Minseok sighed, rubbing his head in frustration. Was that worry in his voice? 

   “Actually,” Jongdae spoke up just as the leader’s eyes landed on him. Jongdae wasn’t sure if it was a smile or a muscle spasm on the knight’s face, but it sure did look like a small smile. He wasn’t sure though. 

   “I’m glad to see you’re safe,” Minseok said with a nod, then he looked around at the others. “We need to get moving, get out of these woods as soon as possible.”

They all helped each other quickly pick up and pack whatever had been dropped. Kyungsoo walked past Jongdae, greeting him with a pat on the shoulder and a crooked smile. 

The fog swirled behind them as they hurried to leave the dreary forest and its beasts behind. 

⬣ 

 

Once they were finally out of the woods, they still kept going for a good while to get some distance to the wolves in case they decided to follow them. 

When they did stop, they all just about fell off their horses, completely exhausted. Even their horses were still all anxious and jittery. 

They made fast work of putting up the tents, Chanyeol dragging Baekhyun off to help him build a fire. Though he was tired and shaking now the stress had started to wear off, Jongdae kept working, knowing it would bring him closer to getting some much-needed sleep. He’d had enough excitement for a month and now he just wanted to sleep for another month. 

Lunch was eaten in total silence, everyone just trying to digest what had happened. Jongdae wasn’t actually hungry, his stomach feeling quite queasy, but he ate anyway just to do something. And it seemed to help something as his stomach started feeling a bit better after a couple of bites of some fruit bread. 

Yixing took time to go around and heal the various cuts and bruises the knights had gotten during the attack. Luckily no one had been seriously hurt.

After eating, Minseok retreated to his tent with Kyungsoo and Yixing to try and figure out if they were still on the right course. It seemed the two knights were his primary advisers. 

The rest of them stayed by the fire, staring at the flames. Jongdae still felt jittery, his hands clenched to stop them from shaking. He felt so so tired but somehow also wide awake. It seemed the rest of the knights were also still quite shaken up as well; Baekhyun hadn’t been allowed to leave Chanyeol’s side for even a second, not that the Nymph seemed unhappy about it, looking quite comfortable all wrapped up in the Elf’s arms. Sehun, and surprisingly Jongin, had latched on to Junmyeon, both clinging to the older boy for comfort. It kind of reminded Jongdae of a puppy pile. 

A cold breeze left Jongdae shivering and he inched closer to the fire. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself when a hand came into view. Jongin smiled at him, offering his hand and inviting Jongdae closer. Warmth spread through Jongdae’s chest as he took the hand and was immediately pulled into Jongin’s side. He leaned against the other knight, already feeling a bit better and calmer. 

   “Jongdae-yah,” Baekhyun spoke up, voice soft and a little hoarse. “You were behind me, right? The wolf went after you instead of me. Are you okay?” 

A little taken aback by the sincerity in Baekhyun’s voice, Jongdae nodded. He was quite touched by Baekhyun’s worry and the last guilt about leaving the knight behind disappeared. “And you?” 

Baekhyun smiled, glancing up at Chanyeol before looking back at Jongdae. “I’m good.” 

Their eyes locked for a couple of seconds and they shared a small smile. 

Jongin shifted beside him, his arm winding around Jongdae’s waist so that they sat more comfortably. Despite not being used to so much skinship, Jongdae surprisingly didn’t feel uncomfortable. He put his arm around Jongin’s shoulders, the other knight smiling sleepily up at him. 

Jongdae had finally stopped shaking and instead felt warm and a little bit like his body was made of jelly. He was so tired, rubbing at his eyes every few minutes to try and stay awake. It was still early afternoon and he wanted to be able to sleep properly later and not wake up hours before dawn. 

The knight beside him was obviously fighting to stay awake as well, his head lolling to the side every couple of minutes then snapping back up, his eyes blinking furiously for a few seconds only to slowly start closing again, drooping drowsily. In fact, they all looked like they could use a good night’s sleep though it was still early and Jongdae was about to just say fuck it and retreat to his tent when Minseok and the two other knights came back from their meeting. 

Minseok cleared his throat loudly, eyeing the cuddle piles that had formed with something that looked a lot like fondness in his eyes. The leader, however, was met with glares from all of his knights who had just started to relax. They obviously weren’t up for a briefing now, but Minseok didn’t care.

   “We passed the borders to Miriliveth when we left the forest, so we’re still making good headway. But I think we all need to have a rest, as do our horses, so we’ll stay here for now and get back on the road tomorrow at dawn. So eat, rest, get your energy back.” He paused for a second, then added in a softer voice. “You did well today. I’m glad you’re all okay.” 

This time the leader was met with tired, but warm and loving smiles from the knights and Jongdae had no doubt they all loved and respected their leader very much. Though Minseok seemed cold, he cared deeply about his knights. 

The last three knights joined them by the fire, Kyungsoo sitting beside Jongdae, and Yixing and Minseok making themselves comfortable on either side of Chanyeol and Baekhyun. 

Sehun wasted no time in curling up against Junmyeon, looking quite funny with the Human being a lot smaller than the Faery. The younger boy was out like a light in seconds, looking painfully young and innocent as he slept. Jongin whined about being tired as well, rubbing his eyes with his fists as he yawned and Jongdae once again thought the knight suddenly seemed much younger. He wondered again how old they all actually were. Pretty close around his own age, he was pretty sure, but it was hard to tell. 

With another loud yawn, Jongin huffed and turned to snuggle closer to a slightly surprised Jongdae. Despite the knight being much taller than Jongdae, he had no problem fitting himself to lie comfortably against the Human and once he had settled, he fell asleep in less than a minute. He vaguely reminded Jongdae of a big dog thinking it was smaller than it actually was. It was quite endearing. 

Feeling Kyungsoo’s presence beside him, Jongdae glanced nervously at the other knight. Now he knew there were feelings there, Jongdae didn’t want to step on any toes. Kyungsoo only smiled at him though, eyes shining with fondness as he looked at the sleeping knight in Jongdae’s arms. 

   “Jonginnie is a very affectionate person,” he said softly. “I’m sorry he’s so forward. He doesn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, he just sometimes forgets that people have personal space.” 

   “It’s okay,” Jongdae mumbled back with a small smile. It felt nice to be included, to feel like they actually wanted him there. His own brother hadn’t been around much and when he had, he’d spared little time for Jongdae but this – Jongdae thought that this was how it would feel like to have brothers. What happened in the forest had somehow brought them all closer and Jongdae realized he hadn’t thought about his home for a while.

 

 


	13. Miriliveth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiny bit of a filler, but I hope you guys like it! xx  
> ~ M

**Chapter XII**

_**Miriliveth** _

 

Jongdae breathed out as they exited the Faery Court. Having the ten Faeries from the Council staring at him had been quite nerve-wracking. Despite the fact that they had been wearing flowers in their hair and colourful, ruffled clothes they had been strangely intimidating.

Miriliveth had been even more beautiful than Sehun and Kyungsoo had described. There were flowers literally everywhere, endless fields of colourful petals covering most of the kingdom, divided by glittering streams and lakes. A wonderful, sweet and almost dizzying, aroma hung over the kingdom and the sound of buzzing insects was a constant background noise. Manmade paths trotted down by years of wear and tear lead through the kingdom, and Jongdae was sure it was mostly to make sure that any outsiders wouldn’t accidentally stumble upon a town which they could not see. And the towns really were nearly impossible to spot.

Sehun had pointed out the tiny Faery towns and cities they had passed on their way and it was only then Jongdae had noticed that some of the flowers seemed a bit bigger than normal and that the little beings fluttering about hadn’t been butterflies but Faeries.

The capitol Aereithel, however, had clearly been built with the help of the Elves. The architecture was nearly identical but here, instead of everything being white and light colours, it was like a rainbow had fallen on the city. Every colour of the prism covered the city, the buildings were painted abstractly almost like paint had just been splattered on carelessly. Though it was hard to see if they had any meaning to the colours, if they were meant to form some sort of picture, as nearly every centimetre of the buildings were covered with flowers.

Even the cobblestone paths leading through the city were covered in fallen flower petals. The aroma of flowers was even more overwhelming in the city and Jongdae constantly felt like he had to sneeze.

Everyone was smiling and laughing, flittering about like they had nowhere to be. Most were in their Human form without their wings, but many also fluttered around in their Faery form, their tiny wings glittering in the sunlight. The happy mood around them seemed almost contagious, the scare of the forest seeming far away in this colourful city.

The Council hall towered up behind them as they stepped outside. Giant trees had been planted in a close-knit circle, the trunks making up the walls and the canopy the roof. Being inside had been like standing in a forest clearing with the trees surrounding you, the grass under your feet and the sunlight filtering down through the leaves, insects glittering in the rays of the sun.

Ten modest stools looking a lot like tree stumps made up a half circle at the opposite side of the entrance and that was where the Council sat.

The Council ofFaeries had all been very friendly and hadn’t reacted much when learning the knights were travelling with Humans. It was only when hearing about the upcoming war they showed anything but a smile on their face, frowns slowly spreading through the room as they realized what the knights were saying. Much like the Elves, the Faeries wanted some time to go through the documents and discuss what they wanted to do. So the knights left everything with them as well as the letter from the Elven King and went out to check out more of the city.

Apparently, word of the knights being in the city had spread as they were surrounded by excited kids, laughing and babbling in a language of which Jongdae understood nothing.

Where Elvish was soft and mellow, Faeries sounded more like they were singing when they spoke. It kind of reminded Jongdae of bells ringing. It seemed the children wanted to play with them, but unfortunately, Minseok had other plans.

   “Alright,” Minseok called out to get everyone’s attention. “It’s time for some training, we’ve been slacking off lately. I’ve arranged with the Council that we can use one of their private fields so we won’t be bothered. Come on now.”

The knights groaned, but Jongdae jumped up and excitedly started following the leader, all tiredness forgotten. He would finally get to properly train his magic with other magi, could finally spar with someone who understood him. Who knew what his magic was capable of once he got some proper training?

He was also really curious about the other knights and their magic, and this would finally show him just what they could do. He’d already had a glimpse of most of their magic, knew a lot of them as well by now, but he had gone years without seeing someone using magic until a few days ago and he honestly couldn’t get enough of it.

Lost in his own thoughts, Jongdae hadn’t noticed they had reached their destination until he nearly bumped into Yixing. They were in a small circular clearing with trees on all sides giving them privacy from any prying eyes. Jongdae figured a lot of people would like to watch the knights train and that a crowd could be really distracting for the knights.

It also made him feel better to know he couldn’t have an audience to his first training session in case he messed up or looked stupid.

Minseok turned to them all. “We’ll focus on hand to hand combat today. It’s been a while and you could all use some brushing up on basics.”

Jongdae’s excitement fell flat and he frowned. Wait… what? “Hand to hand? Like, martial arts?” he asked out loud before he could stop himself, regretting it as soon as Minseok’s eyes landed on him, but he couldn’t stop now. “What about training our magic? Isn’t that more important?”

His heart stopped for a second, and cold chills went down his spine as Minseok’s eyes narrowed, now steely as they observed the Human. He clearly didn’t share Jongdae’s view on things, but Jongdae honestly couldn’t see why they would waste their time on martial arts when they had actual magic many other people didn’t. They had the magic, they had the upper hand, why not use it?

   “If you can’t fight without your magic, you shouldn’t have magic at all.” Minseok’s voice was cold and perfectly calm but he had fire in his eyes.

Though he should probably leave it at that, Jongdae still felt it was more effective – and more logical – to just use their magic, but he had barely opened his mouth before Minseok cut him off.

   “You are more than welcome to leave if you don’t agree with how we do things, I’m certainly not stopping you. But if you want to continue staying with us, I expect you to do your part. We need to know that we can trust you, that you’ve got our backs.”

The silence following was almost deafening. Everyone was staring at Jongdae with wide eyes, waiting for him to make his move.

Jongdae’s face and neck were burning with humiliation, annoyance still bubbling in his chest at being told off like he was a child, but after meeting Junmyeon’s pleading eyes, Jongdae huffed and crossed his arms. He wanted to leave but knew it would only make things worse. And he honestly didn’t want to miss anything either. If this was what it took to become a knight, then whatever. He wasn’t one to quit.

A small part of him also wanted to stay because he knew it would annoy the leader. He wanted to prove him wrong.

Minseok was silent for a couple of seconds and Jongdae could feel his eyes on him, but he refused to look. Once the leader seemed sure that Jongdae wasn’t going to interrupt him again, he continued on like nothing had happened.

   “Alright, you know we do this, but for the sake of the newcomers, I’ll explain shortly. Team up two and two. Junmyeon-ssi, I think Jongin would be a good match for you. And Jongdae-ssi,” he paused, raising a brow at the Human as if daring him to protest. “You’re with Yixing. Chanyeol, Baekhyun would you please give us a demonstration?”

If Jongdae wasn’t mistaken, Chanyeol actually looked nervous as he and Baekhyun stepped forward. Sehun giggled, though he tried to hide it with his hand, and Kyungsoo was smirking. This was apparently a common occurrence and they all knew the outcome.

Baekhyun blew Chanyeol a kiss and then, faster than Jongdae had ever seen him move before, the small Nymph took a couple of steps forward and swung his leg up towards Chanyeol’s head. Having apparently seen it coming, Chanyeol managed to actually catch Baekhyun’s leg. He tried to throw the smaller boy off balance but Baekhyun freed himself and danced away.

And from there it was honestly a blur of flying limbs – blink and you would miss a lot. Jongdae watched in awe as they moved to strike each other, both fluent and graceful as if they were dancing.

How Minseok ever expected him to do something like _that_ …

Though Jongdae had absolutely no knowledge about any type of hand to hand combat, it seemed that Chanyeol had the upper hand at the moment, but then Baekhyun twisted around out of Chanyeol’s grip and _threw_ the much taller boy over his shoulder.

Jongdae stared with his mouth hanging open as Chanyeol whined loudly, flopping around uselessly on the ground for a bit while the others laughed at him.

That was… something Jongdae would never be able to do. He glanced at Junmyeon, who looked quite nervous as well and Jongdae figured the older boy wasn’t really a fighting type of person. He was too mellow to actually hit someone.

Minseok cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention, and he looked at the two Humans as he spoke. “Just like that. Now get to it.”

They spread out, Yixing pulling a slightly nervous Jongdae to the side. “Don’t worry,” Yixing smiled reassuringly. “We’ll start nice and slow. First, we meditate to find your inner balance.”

Meditate? Jongdae sighed but sat down, copying how Yixing crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jongin and Junmyeon doing the same, while the rest of the knights had started warming up.

   “Just breathe slowly. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Empty your mind.” Yixing’s voice was soft, almost a whisper and Jongdae could tell he was taking this very seriously so he kept in his laughter, not wanting to offend the knight. This was ridiculous though. What good would meditating do?

They sat there for what felt like hours when it was probably only minutes before Yixing finally breathed out heavily and stood up. “Now, we warm up.”

Jongdae had thought the meditating had been stupid, but it turned out warm-up was worse. Yixing had Jongdae running circles around the clearing, Junmyeon right behind him. Neither of them were in any great shape so both were breathing hard after only a couple of laps. Jongdae hated running.

When he was just about ready to drop, Yixing finally called for him to stop. And then came the stretching. Yixing helped Jongdae bend – and what felt like a break – his limbs as Jongdae had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do.

   “I’m sorry about Minseok-nim. He’s not usually like this,” Yixing started suddenly while trying to bend Jongdae in half. His voice was quiet and a little sad. “All I can say is that he’s got his own reasons, so please don’t be too mad at him.”

Not really knowing what to say – and mostly unable to say anything as he felt like his insides were being crushed – Jongdae just nodded. It was the second time Yixing had apologized for Minseok though he really didn’t need to. This time it had been Jongdae’s fault – he was honest enough to admit that. He and Minseok had gotten off on the wrong foot, but if what all the knights said about their leader was true, then they should be able to get along.

Jongdae just had to wait until Minseok got that stick out of his ass.

And maybe Jongdae should be a little more patient as well, but whatever.

   “Now,” Yixing said as he let Jongdae straighten out his back, ignoring the cracks that followed the action that had Jongdae wincing. “We have to work on your stance and balance. If you get this wrong, it won’t matter how strong you are, you will lose. Balance is the key to winning any fight.”

And so Yixing showed Jongdae how to stand so he wouldn’t easily get knocked off his feet. In the relatively short time it took, the knight managed to touch just about every part of Jongdae’s body to correct his stance. Jongdae wasn’t a shy person by any means, but it was a little weird to have someone you hadn’t know that long touch you freely like that.

Finally, after being thoroughly groped, Yixing deemed Jongdae ready enough to start learning some punching and blocking techniques. It honestly felt a little weird and awkward at first, trying to punch someone earnestly while still knowing Yixing would block everything. Jongdae had never even punched someone before.

The more they trained, the easier it became but just as Jongdae had found a rhythm, Minseok called for them to stop for the day.

Jongdae was surprisingly exhausted as they headed back to the inn they were staying at to bathe before going out for dinner. He sighed, he was going to be so sore tomorrow. But he was also quite proud of himself. This martial arts thing was pretty cool, but he wasn’t going to admit that out loud.

                                                              

They were back on the road again, new course set for the Nymph capital Ethis. Though he had more or less gotten used to riding horseback, Jongdae was sore from the training they did the day before. This was why he never worked out.

He wasn’t going to give up though. He didn’t want to give Minseok that satisfaction.

A bee nearly flew into his eye, distracting him from his thoughts. They were in the middle of what felt like an infinite flower field as they had been pretty much since they left Aereithel. Jongdae’s nose had been numb for a while now so the flower scent didn’t bother him anymore. The only thing that did bother him was the hundreds of insects that never seemed to leave him alone. It was like they were purposely looking for any and every opening to try and crawl into.

Jongdae didn’t usually have a fear of insects, but if one more buzzing bastard tried to crawl into his ear he was going to lose it.

They still had days left – about a week according to Minseok – until they reached the borders of Aupherisea and they were travelling through Miriliveth the whole time, so there was a real possibility that he was going to go insane. Hopefully, the Nymph Kingdom didn’t have that many insects.

Just like the Elven King, the Faery Council had ordered the knights so continue their travels to the Nymph Kingdom to deliver the same message they had now delivered twice before. They had gotten a letter from the Council to deliver as well. Meanwhile, the Council wanted to travel to Eirior themselves and meet with the King, so they could decide together what to do about the impending threat. The knights were to invite the Nymph Queen to join the meeting once she had been informed of the news.

And so, they found themselves travelling between kingdoms once again, the satchel loaded with documents back on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

Jongin was beside Jongdae, chattering excitedly about his home and it reminded Jongdae of when they were heading to Miriliveth and it had been Sehun talking his ear off.

   “We don’t have flower fields like Miriliveth and I suppose it could look a lot like Eirior, but we have a lot more swamps and wetlands. Usually, when there is something that looks like a field, it is actually really wet underneath so be careful where you walk or you could end up getting stuck in a swamp. It’s really beautiful though! After rain when the wetlands are overflowing and the wind is still, the sky reflects in the water and it feels like you’re standing in the sky! And the sunrise and sunset,” Jongin sighed dreamingly. “When the sun rises or sets after rain, it really is the most beautiful thing. I’ll show you someday.”

Jongdae nodded eagerly, trying to picture it in his mind. He knew nature could be stunning from the books he had read, but the real thing had turned out to be much more mind-blowing. He wanted to see it all someday.

According to Jongin, most of the kingdom was actually uninhabited. Dryads and AnthousaiNymphs lived in their Sacred Forest somewhere in the kingdom. A place you could apparently only find if you were led to it by a Nymph. Many had gotten lost in their search.

Naiad Nymphs were more likely to settle in small towns near water, though these towns were very rare. The kingdom did have an unofficial capital where the Queen would receive guests in cases of diplomatic meetings and such – like the knights visiting. Their owl would reach the Queen in plenty time for her to prepare and get to Ethis.

As Jongin explained, Jongdae had so many questions. He knew what a Dryad was, that was the type of Nymph Baekhyun was, but what was an Anthousai Nymph? A Naiad Nymph? Which ones were Jongin and Minseok? How did they hide their Sacred Forest from outsiders as it sounded huge? Just what was in their Sacred Forest?

He didn’t ask any of them though, not wanting to offend. He figured that if Jongin wanted him to know, he would have explained it more and that he had his reasons for not telling. Nymphs were generally described as secretive and elusive, so Jongdae was happy with whatever information Jongin was willing to share.

Jongdae let out a small sigh and shifted in his saddle. He really wished there was another transport method than riding horseback. It was quicker than walking, yes, but it still took ages. Who knew what the Humans were doing while they were spending days travelling around like this? How close were they to being ready to attack?

Though Jongdae usually tried not to think too much about it, he was worried about what was to come. How could they stop something this big when they didn’t even fully know what they were up against?

They were doing all they currently could though, they had set everything in motion and Jongdae had to trust that the rulers of the other kingdoms knew what they were doing. The knights and he were no longer alone with the knowledge, they were now just smaller pieces of a much bigger puzzle.

   “What’s up with your face?” Baekhyun interrupted his thoughts cheerfully, peering at Jongdae with a happy smile. “It’s a beautiful day, there is no room for frowns here. I’ll cheer you right up! Ah, how about a story – y’know, Chanyeol once-“

   “Yah, Baekhyun shut up!” Chanyeol whined, aiming a slap at the Nymph’s arm.

As they bickered, Jongdae smiled and shook off the worry. Baekhyun was right, there was no reason to worry about things out of his control.


	14. The dangers of the swamp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little short, but it's probably one of my personal favorite chapters. I hope you guys'll like it as much as I do ^^  
>  ~ M

**Chapter XIII**

_**The dangers of the swamp** _

 

Aupherisea was bare of any signs of Sprites like Jongin had said. They had crossed the border hours ago and had yet to see something living other than animals.

It was getting late and a dense mist had started creeping up from the swamp surrounding them. They were riding single file on a small strip of land that wasn’t swamp – one wrong step and you would fall in.

Jongdae shivered. The last time they had been in a fog it had nearly killed him, and he did not want to try his luck again. Fortunately, none of the knights seemed concerned or nervous, so Jongdae comforted himself with the thought that there really was nothing to be afraid of. He trusted their instincts over his own – they knew better than he did.

   “Once we’ve cleared the swamp, we’ll make camp. It’s too dangerous to travel when it’s dark,” Minseok called out, the knights cheering at the thought of food and rest. They were likely as hungry as Jongdae was.

   “Jongdae-yah, would you be able to make those sweet… hetok again?” Baekhyun asked eagerly, turning around to look pleadingly at the Human. “They were so good and I’m really craving some.”

Chanyeol and Jongin both yell out their agreements from wherever they were in their ranks, also requesting that ‘fish thing’ he had given them.

   “I guess I could, but I don’t think we have the right ingredients to make them.”

   “Then we’ll go get some!” Baekhyun said, sounding very determined. “What do you need?”

   “We can do this after meeting our Queen,” Minseok interrupted them, glaring back at the knights. “We have plenty of provisions to last us the rest of the way. We’re not stopping for more.”

The knights pouted but nodded at their orders. They knew better than to argue with their leader.

It wasn’t long until they finally seemed to be out of the swamp and Minseok decided they should make camp in a small cluster of trees. They went through their usual routines; setting up tents, making fire and then sat down to eat. Flatbread – that Jongdae was honestly getting a little tired of – was warmed over the fire, and they had their usual fruits, berries,and nuts.

Jongdae wondered if they ever ate anything else. He could really use some meat right about now. He knew they did eat meat, they had some at the tavern in Eirior, so he didn’t really understand why they never went hunting for something to eat. He didn’t dare ask though.

The rest of the night was pretty much routine as well. They ate, talked, joked around and then split up to do their own thing. Jongdae messed around with Baekhyun and Chanyeol a little, playing around with their magic without Minseok seeing. He didn’t want to piss off the leader even more, but he couldn’t resist joining when he had seen the two knights playing some game where they tried to form shapes with their magic.

It was hard to do with lightning and sparks though, and Baekhyun had some trouble with his light as well. Only Chanyeol managed to actually form something that looked remotely like what they were trying to do.

Once the sun had gone down, insects started crawling out from everywhere so they all retreated back to their tents early to avoid being eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Jongdae and Junmyeon talked for a while until Junmyeon eventually drifted off, but Jongdae found himself unable to fall asleep. He tossed and turned in his sleeping bag but for some reason, he just couldn’t get comfortable. Junmyeon was sleeping soundly beside him, his soft breathing bothering Jongdae so much as it seemed to taunt him, and he huffed in frustration.

Eventually, he got up to pee. Not that he really had to, but he hoped it would somehow help. It was chilly and kind of clammy outside of the tent and he irritatedly swatted away some mosquitoes. They just had to make camp near a swamp, didn’t they?

The embers in the fire had gone out and the trees blocked for any moonlight so it was pitch black outside. Jongdae fumbled around blindly to get away from the tents to get some privacy.

As he took care of his business, he regretted even going outside. It was creepy as fuck and he couldn’t see anything. He was about to hurry back to his tent when he heard what sounded like a mumbling voice and he looked up.

Bright, white light filled his vision and a lightness washed over him, his limbs suddenly feeling oddly heavy thoughstill like he was floating. The sun was beating down on him with a blinding light, a huge flower field surrounding him on all sides. He could see nothing but flowers as he slowly spun around. Something in the back of his mind was nagging at him but he couldn’t focus on it no matter how hard he tried.

Something pulled on his sleeve and he looked down to find a small, glowing Faery tugging on his arm. A tinkling laugh resonated over the field sounding like it was coming from all directions at once. Huh, he must still be in Miriliveth then. Had he dreamed about them travelling to Aupherisea?

   “Come on,” the Faery laughed. It was speaking its own tinkling language, but somehow Jongdae understood.

   “They’re waiting. Come on.”

Oh, they were waiting for him. He had to go then. He didn’t want to keep them waiting, that would be rude.

He walked slowly, his legs feeling shaky for some reason so he moved with unsteady steps. The Faery kept tugging on his sleeve, laughingly urging him to move faster, and he stumbled along, feet getting caught every few steps, but he didn’t look down, eyes stuck on the horizon. Though he was moving forward, it seemed he wasn’t actually going anywhere.

Everything was sort of… hazy and it felt like his head had been stuffed with cotton, the light bright enough to hurt his eyes but he felt calm. Almost serene. Though his mind didn’t, his body knew exactly where to go, moving on instinct.

His foot caught on something and he stumbled, nearly falling on his face. He stopped for a second and blinked. Wait… where was he? It felt like he was forgetting something really important, but it was like trying to hold onto water. Just as he had grabbed the thought, it slipped through his fingers. What was-?

   “Come on, hurry. They’re waiting. Come on!”

Jongdae looked down at the Faery, the light it was emitting suddenly more intense. He nodded, eyes clouding over. He had to go. They were waiting.

More Faeries joined as he walked and he greeted them all with a dopey smile. They were all laughing brightly, tinkling like bells and Jongdae really liked the sound.

He felt a bit like that time his brother had snuck out some wine for the two of them to share and they had stayed up late, emptying the bottle.

   “Come on now, we’re close.”

   “Okay,” he said, voice sounding slurred in his ears. A weird shrilly noise joined the choir of the tinkling Faeries and Jongdae frowned. He didn’t like that noise. He tried to tune it out but it got louder and louder. Then another voice spoke up, much louder than the rest and Jongdae looked up. Someone was standing in the distance, arms open to welcome him. “Come, I’ve been waiting.” The voice was smooth, somewhat familiar, and Jongdae immediately felt at ease.

The shrill noise got louder but it was easier to ignore as he focused on the person he was heading towards. They looked familiar somehow… black, curly hair gently swooping down over a pale face with beautiful fox-like eyes.

There was a violent tug on his arm and he stumbled back. The shrilly noise got louder and louder by his ear until it was almost deafening and the tugging continued though he couldn’t see who was holding onto him.

The Faeries around him seemed to get agitated, their lights now tinted red as they fluttered around jerkily. Their calling intensified. “Come on. Come _on._ They’re waiting, they’re _right there_. You’re so close. _Come on!_ ”

Jongdae looked up at the person waiting for him, desperately wanting to know who it was and he struggled to move forward but kept getting pulled back by the invisible force. Something in him told him that he needed to get to that person no matter what. He was _so close._

   “ _JONGDAE_!”

He was slapped harshly across the face and something almost painfully cold clamped tightly around his wrist and neck, the cold spreading through his body.

The flower field in front of him seemed to flicker and he blinked once, trying to make sense of it all. It flickered from light to dark as if he was blinking really fast though he now kept his eyes wide open despite the blinding pain. The Faeries gradually turned from red to an eerie blue, now looking more like floating flames, and their happy smiled twisting into ugly snarls as the meadow suddenly started fading around him.

He blinked, suddenly finding himself in the middle of a dark, damp forest, surrounded by dozens of blue Sprites floating around him agitatedly, completely silent but somehow still threatening as the now ugly creatures glared and bared their pointy teeth at him.

Jongdae stumbled back with a shout and realized that his feet were wet. He was knee deep into the swamp.

He scrambled back in blind panic but ran into someone and he was about to scream when he came face to face with a wide-eyed Junmyeon and Minseok, both still holding onto him with death grips though he hadn’t noticed.

   “ _What the hell is going on?_ ” Jongdae’s voice was shrill with panic, his mind scrambling for thoughts to make any of this make sense.

   “Let’s get back first,” Minseok said, eyeing the blue Sprites over Jongdae’s shoulder with uncontained worry in his eyes. Unable to refuse, Jongdae let Minseok and Junmyeon drag him back to their camp.

Yixing and Jongin were the only ones around the campsite as they came back but they were soon joined by the rest of the knights as they came running after having heard all of the shouting. They must have been out looking for Jongdae.

Jongdae felt frozen in shock as Minseok and Junmyeon gently pulled him over and sat him down by the fire. Yixing was quick to wrap him in a blanket and hand him a mug of something warm.

It felt like someone was stomping on Jongdae’s head and he was sure that if he opened his mouth, he was going to throw up. His whole body was cold and he felt… empty.

He stared blankly into the flames and when it became clear Jongdae wasn’t going to say anything, Minseok sighed. “First of all, I am really sorry. I forgot you and Junmyeon has never been to this kingdom, so I failed to inform you of its dangers. What you just experienced, is something most wouldn’t survive. Will-o’-the-wisps are evil Nature Sprites who lure people into their swamps to drown them and harvest their souls. They hypnotize you, look into your mind and show you something they know will make you follow them. I should have told you not to go out during the night. I am so sorry.”

   “We all should have remembered,” Kyungsoo said, eyeing Jongdae with sad eyes. “I am sorry as well.”

The knights all murmured sincere apologies and Jongdae wanted to tell them that it was okay, that it wasn’t their fault, but his mind didn’t seem to work and he couldn’t get any words out.

When he still said nothing, they seemed to realize that he wasn’t up for any more talking and they all fell quiet, huddling up around the fire. Jongin brought him some honey biscuits with a careful smile, and when Jongdae accepted them, the young knight curled up against the Human.

Jongdae’s head was throbbing painfully and he really wanted to go to sleep, but he knew there was no way for him to fall asleep now and was grateful for the knights’ silent support.

He must have the worst luck, he decided, nearly dying three times over a short period of time. When he first made the decision to help the knights back in Dorwall, he had never thought that he would end up being chased by Human soldiers he had no idea they even had, or that beasts like dire wolves and will-o’-the-wisps would try to kill him. Would he have changed his mind if he knew? He honestly couldn’t decide.

He glanced around at the knights around him, letting his eyes wander over them without really looking when something caught his eyes and he realized he was looking at Minseok. The leader had his eyes closed so Jongdae allowed himself to stare. Something about the knight seemed familiar but Jongdae couldn’t place it.

Black, curly hair… fox-like eyes.

Jongdae’s heart stopped and he looked away, standing up abruptly. He managed to mumble something about going to sleep and quickly retreated to his tent. He had just laid down in his sleeping bag when Junmyeon joined him in the tent except he didn’t come alone. Baekhyun and Jongin crawled through the tent opening as well, each holding their own sleeping bag, and started making themselves comfortable, curling around Jongdae as much as possible when constricted by the fabric.

Before Jongdae could ask, Baekhyun spoke up, voice soft. “I’ve been through the same once. It feels awful to have someone in your mind like that. Afterwards, I felt empty. Cold. It helped me having someone with me, it helped me being warm.” With that Baekhyun cuddled up to Jongdae and fell asleep, Jongin following not long after.

   “I’m glad you’re okay,” Junmyeon said after a while of listening to the knights’ sleeping. “I woke up when you left and got really worried when you didn’t return. Luckily Minseok was awake and heard me calling your name.”

   “Thank you.” Jongdae didn’t even want to think about what would have happened, had Junmyeon not been awake. “For saving me. Thank you.”

Junmyeon just sent him a warm smile before mumbling a goodnight. But like earlier, Jongdae couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about what Minseok had said. The will-o’-the-wisps showed you something they knew would make you follow them.

Then why had they shown him Minseok?


	15. Bathed in red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys'll like it ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter XIV**

_**Bathed in red** _

 

The sun had just begun to peek up over the horizon when the knights woke and started getting ready for the rest of the travel to Ethis. It wasn’t far, Minseok had said as they got on their horses, just an hour or two depending on the road.

Jongdae honestly didn’t really care. He was in a foul mood and kept mostly to himself so he wouldn’t accidentally snap at anyone. He had hardly gotten any sleep between the horrible nightmares about getting dragged into the swamp and drowned by the will-o’-the-wisps, and the thinking about what the evil Sprites had shown him and why.

He was exhausted, his head was pounding and his body still felt weirdly empty. He found it hard to collect any coherent thoughts and often found himself zoning out.

Unfortunately, it seemed the knights thought his brooding was because he blamed them for what happened to him, when he truly, honestly didn’t. Someone was always close to him to get him whatever he wanted, and they kept sending him sad looks. He tried to reassure them that it really wasn’t their fault, but his mind felt like porridge and he couldn’t get his mouth to work.

Not being able to express himself properly only made his mood even worse and it almost felt like he had a personal black cloud hanging over his head.

Even Minseok seemed worried as he kept glancing back at Jongdae with concerned eyes.

Jongdae hoped he would be able to gain full control of his mind again soon. He felt so bad seeing them all feel guilty and dejected.

A shabby-looking building appeared over the horizon and Jongdae focused on that as they moved closer and closer. Once they reached it, Jongdae saw that there were multiple buildings just like that one. They were all made of bulky, rotting, uneven logs and the houses were all crooked and rickety, some of them having gaping holes in the roof or the walls. There was no glass in the windows – if the house even had windows.

This was Ethis?

Compared to the grand capitals of Inaenamelle and Aereithel this was… disappointing. No one even lived in Ethis, the city being completely deserted. It was only for greeting visitors, so the Nymphs apparently didn’t care for keeping up appearances. There weren’t even any roads, just long grass.

Minseok led them towards a bigger building and Jongdae was surprised to see a fully functioning horse stable filled with hay, water and food for the horses. The Nymphs must have stocked up before they arrived, meaning the knights’ owl had reached them in plenty time for them to prepare.

As they moved further into the surprisingly large city, they saw the first signs of life since entering the kingdom. Two guards were stationed outside a large dome-shaped building that was less crooked and with actual glass in the windows. The guards were wearing some kind of green fabric draped over their bodies, silver armour covering the most vital parts. Both were holding razor-sharp spears.

The knights were let through without any trouble and they walked into a huge room furnished only with a simple, wooden throne. On the throne sat the most beautiful woman Jongdae had ever seen. Pale, shimmering skin, a slim face with shining green eyes and long, violet hair. She too was wearing some fabric, hers the colour white, draped over her body like a dress, fastened with silver jewellery.

Minseok, Baekhyun, and Jongin immediately kneeled and the rest of the knights quickly followed suit. Only when she spoke up, did they stand again. Like the times before, Minseok started telling their story. Hearing the leader speak his native language was almost hypnotizing. The language was soft and smooth, but also oddly gurgly like a bubbling brook. It was hard to describe but it was beautiful.

The more Minseok explained, the more troubled the Queen looked and she was quiet long after the leader stopped talking. Finally, she spoke up with a heavily accented Common Tongue. “I cannot read the tongue of Humans so your papers will be of no use to me. I will travel to Inaenamelle and lend my strength. You have fulfilled your duty, you are dismissed for now.”

With a nod she stood up and left, walking so gracefully it looked like she was floating. And just like that, they were alone.

Now what? They had no orders left to carry out. Did Jongdae and Junmyeon go back home to Paneia now? Jongdae felt a little nervous at the thought. They couldn’t go back to Dorwall, so where should they go if the knights decided to dismiss them? He glanced at Junmyeon and found the older boy looking down at his feet, biting his lip nervously.

Deciding it was best to just wait and see what happened, Jongdae kept quiet and hoped someone else would say something first. It didn’t take long for Minseok to break the silence.

   “Alright, let’s go make camp somewhere for today. I think we could all use some rest before we travel further. Then tomorrow we’ll travel for Eirior and find a proper inn to stay at.”

Everyone heartedly agreed and they exited the decaying building. Just as Jongdae stepped outside something huge came swooping out of the sky and he honestly nearly shit his pants only to realize it was their owl. He swore under his breath and tried to calm his breathing. Honestly, anymore scares and we would die of a heart attack. The large bird settled itself on Yixing’s shoulder as Jongdae glared at it.

As they made their way back towards the stables, small drops of water started falling from the sky. It started out slow but quickly picked up in intensity and they quickly sought shelter in a nearby house.

   “Let’s just stay here for now. At least we’ve got a roof,” Minseok sighed as he looked out at the wall of rain outside the gaping doorway.

Luckily it seemed they had chosen a house that didn’t have too many holes in the roof and it was just spacious enough for them all to fit. Junmyeon, Minseok, and Yixing ran to the stables to get their belongings.

They were soaked to the bone when they eventually returned but with some swift movements of his hands, Junmyeon pulled the water from their clothes and threw it outside.

To avoid sitting on the damp, dirty floor, they all spread out and settled in their sleeping bags.

Chanyeol had found some scrap wood close to the house and was about to start a fire when Kyungsoo stopped him.

   “No fire. We don’t want to burn the place down,” the Faery said sternly.

   “But it won’t when I’m here,” Chanyeol whined. “It’s cold.”

   “Yeah well, we don’t trust you not to get distracted,” Sehun said, eyeing Baekhyun, who was sniggering at his whiny boyfriend. “Besides, I don’t want to die of smoke poisoning.”

Pouting like a child, Chanyeol huffed and retreated to a corner of the house to sulk. Baekhyun cooed and was quick to follow the Elf, cuddling up to the taller boy to try and cheer him up. The Nymph was biting his lip, clearly trying not to laugh.

Jongin and Sehun curled up with each other in their sleeping bags and promptly fell asleep, while Yixing pulled out some playing cards from nowhere, and the rest of the knights huddled up to play some card games.

Jongdae sat a little away from them all, leaning against the wall. He wanted to join them, he really did, but his head still hurt so badly and the thought of having to concentrate made his temples throb. He prayed it would end soon so he could start functioning like a normal Human being again. He still felt really guilty for making the knights feel responsible for what happened to him, and he wanted to clear the air.

He was about to doze off when someone joined him, letting out a quiet sigh as they leaned against the wall as well. A glance over revealed that it was Minseok.

The Nymph cleared his throat awkwardly. “How are you?”

   “Okay, I guess,” Jongdae mumbled, voice slightly slurred but he couldn’t hide a slight wince as he shrugged.

Minseok pulled out a small pouch from his pocket and shook a couple of very dry looking leaves into his palm. He held a couple out to Jongdae, who accepted one though he was confused as to what he was supposed to do with it.

   “You chew on it,” Minseok explained after a couple of seconds of Jongdae just staring at the leaf. “It should help with your headache. Your head still hurts, right?”

Mutely, Jongdae nodded then carefully put the leaf into his mouth and started chewing. It was quite dry and tasted very bitter, but he kept chewing as Minseok stared insistently at him. And slowly, like a fog clearing, his headache lifted the more he chewed on the bitter leaf. He looked at Minseok with wide eyes and the Nymph smiled back widely.

   “They’re amazing, right? I always carry some with me.”

   “Yeah, thank you,” Jongdae smiled back. It was a little unnerving having the leader smile so happily at him. Jongdae was a lot more used to the glares.

   “I’m sorry by the way,” Minseok suddenly said, Jongdae looking back up at him in surprise as the Nymph kept talking. “I haven’t been very considerate since… well, since we met. I’m not very good with strangers or... you know, Humans.”

Jongdae chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah, I realize we don’t have to best reputation out here. I get it though, we seem to cause a lot of problems.”

    “It’s still no excuse though,” Minseok insisted, now looking Jongdae right in the eyes. “My knights trusted you and that should have been enough.”

Surprised by the apology and the sudden intensity from the leader, Jongdae was left a little speechless. There was a lot more to the Nymph than he had first thought, and he thought back to how both Chanyeol and Yixing had spoken highly of their leader. This was a chance to clear the air and start fresh.

   “I haven’t exactly made it easy for you either,” Jongdae admitted, scratching the back of his head. “I might have some problems with authority.”

Minseok laughed loudly, teeth pulling back to show his gums as he smiled. “I think I can work with that.” He held his right hand out for Jongdae to shake. “Truce?”

   “Truce,” Jongdae grinned and shook the hand firmly. He had a feeling they would get along great.

   “Now,” Minseok smirked mischievously. “You know how to play cards?”

Jongdae returned the smirk with one of his own as he cracked his knuckles. “Let’s go kick their asses.”

 

⬣

That was how they spent the rest of the day. It kept raining, the rain coming down like a waterfall so they were stuck in the slightly leaky house. They played cards, ate, napped, played some more cards, ate again without worrying about rations and just relaxed. The foul mood between them all was cleared and Jongdae felt so much better.

Once it got colder because of the rain, Chanyeol finally convinced the others to start a fire and they all formed a circle around it with their sleeping bags.

It felt weird not having a fixed destination, not having a mission to complete. Jongdae knew the knights usually just travelled around aimlessly as they pleased and helped whoever they could on their way, so he supposed that it was what they were going to do now. He was excited at the thought of getting to travel around more. It didn’t seem like the knights were going to send him away and he really enjoyed travelling with them.

It was well into the evening before it stopped raining, leaving the air cool and damp. They were in the middle of yet another card game when Jongin perked up from where he had snoozed a bit on Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

   “If there’s no wind we should be able to see a real Aupherisean sunset,” he said excitedly as he stood up. “Come on, we have to hurry before the sun sets.”

He dragged and ushered them all outside into the chilly evening air and started leading them confidently out of the city. The long grass soaked through Jongdae’s shoes and pants in no time, but he was excited to see this sunset Jongin had talked about so he ignored how his feet squelched in his shoes every time he took a step. At least the bugs hadn’t started crawling out of their holes yet.

As they walked the sun got lower and lower on the sky, the shadows growing longer and darker. The decaying city looked even eerier at dusk and Jongdae shivered. It looked haunted.

They continued for a while after leaving the city, Jongin apparently looking for the perfect spot.

Jongdae suddenly stepped in a deeper puddle despite having been looking at the ground to avoid falling, and for a second it was like he was back in the dark swamp with the will-o’-the-wisps, his heart nearly hopping out of his chest. He closed his eyes and took a few calming breaths.

When he opened his eyes again and looked up for the first time in a while, his jaw dropped. They were standing on the edge of a completely flooded marsh that stretched as far as the eye could see. There was not even a slight breeze so the water was completely still. It was like they were standing on a mirror. The sky was covered in a thin, even layer of white clouds that reflected perfectly in the water.

Jongin was right, it really did feel like you were standing in the middle of the sky.

As they stood in silent awe and waited, the sun got low enough to break through the clouds. It had a reddish tint to it and the lower it got, the redder it became, the colour reflecting in the water. It was as if blood slowly seeped into the flooded marsh, colouring it red as the sun cast its red light onto the white clouds.

None of them spoke, but Jongdae felt the atmosphere around them getting heavier. Sunsets were normally an array of pink, orange, purple and red colours but this was just… red. It was odd.

Just before the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, it flashed brightly, bathing everything in red and Jongdae felt like the air was sucked from his lungs. It was terrifyingly beautiful. And then, like it had never even happened, all traces of red vanished, leaving only blue in its wake.

Jongdae couldn’t help but feel it was an omen of some kind. Good or bad, he didn’t know, but he wondered what was to come.


	16. A time to relax

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shot one, but I hope you like it ^^  
> ~ M

”I’m hungry.”

Everyone groaned as Baekhyun repeated himself for the nth time but the Nymph just huffed dramatically and glared at them all.

Minseok sighed and rubbed his temples. “Okay fine, we might as well make camp for the day. There’s a small town not far from here, so someone will have to go get provisions. We’re running low anyway. We can’t all go though, Naiads don’t like strangers.”

   “Finally!” Baekhyun cheered. “Can we get that hetok and fish-bread thing?” He bounced in his seat, giving Minseok large, hopeful eyes.

Eyeing Jongdae thoughtfully, Minseok was quiet for a while then finally sighed again. “Jongin, take Jongdae with you, he’ll know what to get. Stick close to him.”

Jongin beamed at Jongdae, who smiled back excitedly. He was going to see an actual Nymph town, something only very few travellers got to experience. A town of Naiad Nymphs it seemed, so he could be finding out what made Naiads different from Dyads.

They left the rest of the knights behind to set up camp and headed towards the Naiad town.

It was about an hour or so away from where they had left their friends, but Jongin was easy to talk to and there were few moments of silence. Jongdae finally got around to ask about everyone’s age, wanting to address everyone properly now they wouldn’t have to be so formal with each other. As he had expected, Jongin and Sehun were both younger than him, as was Kyungsoo it turned out, but only by one year. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were the same age as Jongdae, while Junmyeon, Yixing and Minseok all were older – Minseok being the oldest of them all. He hadn’t really been that far off with his guessing.

When they finally reached the little town, Jongdae was a little bit surprised to see that it looked a lot like Ethis. Houses built of thick, uneven logs bound together though a little less crooked and decaying. There weren’t even any roads, just trotted down grass. Small streams ran through the city, dividing the houses into small clusters. Compared to Elven and Faery towns, this was darker and… swampier. It had kind of a rustic charm to it though. There were no bridges anywhere, so Jongdae wondered how they all got around without getting wet. 

A couple of Nymphs were out doing their daily chores around the houses and they all looked up at the sound of approaching horses. They scattered almost immediately, running to hide in their houses or – what nearly had Jongdae’s eyes popping out of his head – jumping into the streams and literally _melting_ into the water.

Jongin quickly dismounted his horse and called out in Nymphian to probably try and calm them down. As Jongdae dismounted as well, a Nymph emerged from the water and slowly came forward, hair and clothes dripping wet. She and Jongin talked for a while, the other Nymphs staying hidden. However, as Jongdae looked around, he noticed several pairs of eyes staring at him from either the windows or peeking up over the water’s surface. They must have never seen a Human before.

Naiads must be water Nymphs then. Were they tied to water like Dryads were to trees?

Eventually, Jongin turned to Jongdae. “They’re willing to give us the provisions we need, but you’re gonna have to stay here I’m afraid. Minseok has given me a list of our usual, but what would you need for the food Baekhyun asked for?”

Though he was disappointed he wasn’t going to see more of the town, Jongdae understood their mistrust of strangers. He rattled off the ingredients for the hotteok and bungeo-ppang that was engraved in his mind from the hours he had spent baking them.

Jongin nodded and, with a small smile at Jongdae, walked off with the Nymph, leaving Jongdae completely alone. Jongdae kind of wanted to sit down, but the grass was all wet and he figured it would be rude so he just kept standing even though his legs were sore.

It took a surprisingly long time for Jongin to get back, and Jongdae was starting to get restless when he heard the sounds of horses approaching. He turned around and found two men coming closer. They wore the same type of cloth and armour as the Nymph Queen’s guards so they were probably her soldiers. What were they doing there now?

The two soldiers noticed Jongdae standing there, not that surprising since he stuck out like a sore thumb in his Elven clothing, and quickly dismounted their horses, stalking up to the Human with their spears raised. They were speaking rapidly in Nymphian so Jongdae was completely clueless as to what they wanted of him. He put his hands up to show that he meant no harm. “I – I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

Sunlight reflected off of the razor-sharp spears pointed at him, and Jongdae could feel himself start to sweat nervously. Unfortunately, the soldiers neither spoke nor understood the Common Tongue as they only seemed to get more agitated, barking orders of which he understood nothing. The spears came closer and closer and Jongdae was starting to panic a little when he remembered the seal hanging around his neck.

He quickly pulled the seal up from behind his shirt and the silver coin glittered in the sunlight. The soldiers took a step back immediately and started discussing something in a hushed tone. Jongdae swallowed nervously as they kept going back and forth – probably about what they should do with him.

Another voice spoke up and Jongdae let out a breath in relief, turning to find Jongin hurrying up to him. The younger knight dropped the baskets he was holding as he quickly came to Jongdae’s aid. He spoke to the guards, gesturing towards Jongdae and the Elven seal dangling from his neck. It took a while before the guards finally seemed to understand that Jongdae was with the Onyx Lei and they pulled back their spears.

They didn’t look too happy about it, but with one last glare at Jongdae, they left and headed into the town instead.

   “What was that about?” Jongdae asked once the guards were out of sight.

   “The Queen’s Guard,” Jongin explained. “They patrol the kingdom to make sure the Naiad towns are safe and that there aren’t any dangerous trespassers. I didn’t expect for them to show up, I’m sorry I left you. Good thinking with the seal though.”

   “It’s okay, you couldn’t have known,” Jongdae reassured him. “Thanks for saving me. I was afraid they’d think I had stolen it.”

They helped each other pack up their horses with the baskets of food the Nymphs had provided them and started heading back towards their friends.

They had ridden silently for a while until Jongdae couldn’t control his curiosity any longer. “So, are you a Naiad? That was why Minseok sent you, right? Can you do that water thing?”

Jongin laughed and nodded. “I am yeah. A water Nymph if you will. We’re born from water and have a special connection with it. A lot like Junmyeon actually, but we’re not able to control it like he can. I’m a little jealous actually, it would have been quite fitting, no? Water magic for a water Nymph. I do like my own gift though, I wouldn’t trade it.” 

   “So Dryads are tree Nymphs and Naiads are water Nymphs.” Jongdae nodded to himself as he took in the information. “And Anthousai Nymphs?”

   “Much like Dryads actually,” Jongin explained. “But they’re bound to flowers, not trees. Like Minseok.”

Ah, so Minseok was an Anthousai. Jongdae wondered what his flower looked like.

⬣

When they reached the knights, the camp was all set up with a fire in the middle surrounded by their tents.

On Baekhyun’s request, Jongdae quickly got to work on the food. Eventually, the smell of baked goods spread through the camp and one by one the knights joined him by the fire, drooling over his shoulder as he worked. It took a while but they were all surprisingly patient and only once Jongdae had made food enough for a small army, he let the knights dig in.

   “Oh my god, these are even better when they’re warm,” Baekhyun moaned around a mouthful of hotteok.

   “This really is delicious,” Yixing agreed, having taken an experimental bite of a bungeo-ppang. He fed a small piece of bread to the large owl perched on his shoulder.

They all fell silent as they ate, the knights scarfing down Jongdae’s baking like they hadn’t eaten in weeks. Jongdae found it quite nice to see them enjoy his baking this much, it was nice being able to give something back.

   “I assume you didn’t run into any problems?” Minseok asked, licking his fingers free from the sticky sugar of the hotteok. The leader had really taken a liking to the sweet pancakes and Jongdae was surprised he hadn’t thrown up yet from how many he had eaten.

   “Actually,” Jongin started, his mouth full of food. “The Queen’s Guards showed up while Jongdae was waiting for me. They nearly had him skewered. At least he had the Elven seal with him.”

   “I tried to talk to them,” Jongdae said as a couple of the knights sniggered. “But they didn’t understand me. It would be a lot easier if I spoke other languages.”

Junmyeon hummed in agreement. “I agree. It would be nice to understand a bit more of what’s going on. If we knew the basics we could avoid potential misunderstandings in the future and communicate with others more easily. Not everyone out here speaks the Common Tongue.”

   “I can teach you, hyung,” Sehun volunteered eagerly, Junmyeon agreeing with a wide smile. Jongdae wasn’t annoyed that Sehun hadn’t suggested teaching him as well, he wasn’t sure the two of them could be serious enough to get anything done anyway.

Jongdae then noticed Minseok was watching him with a thoughtful smile and when Yixing was about to say something, Minseok beat him to it.

   “I can teach you if you want,” the leader smiled. “I’m a strict teacher though.”

   “Thank you,” Jongdae said, a little surprised that the offer came from him. He was grateful though, the leader had shown he was fluent in every language. If Jongdae could learn even a fraction of that, he would be satisfied.

   “Shall we start now then?” Minseok asked, getting right down to business, suddenly all serious. “We’ve got nothing better to do anyway and it’s still early. You up for it?”

Not having anything better to do, and actually quite eager to start learning, Jongdae nodded. And so, after everyone had finished up their lunch, the others went off to do whatever while Minseok and Jongdae stayed by the fire.

   “So, where do you want to start?” Minseok asked. “We’ll start with the most important words and phrases so you get the basics. After that, we can raise the difficulty.”

Jongdae thought for a while. Nymphian would be nice to learn as it seemed it was the Nymphs who spoke and understood Common Tongue the least. But as it was rare for anyone to actually travel to Aupherisea, it would perhaps to be better to start with something else. Fae or Elvish…

   “Elvish I think,” he eventually decided. From the look of the maps, Eirior was the largest kingdom and from what he had heard, the knights spent much of their time there.

   “Okay, let’s get started.” Minseok clapped his hands together and grinned almost devilishly.

As Minseok had said, and as Jongdae had fully expected, the leader was strict and perfectionistic, and he had Jongdae repeating phrases until he was satisfied with the Human’s pronunciation. The upside was that the more he repeated the phrase, the more he remembered it. It was terribly repetitive and a little boring, but Minseok was admittedly a great teacher and Jongdae knew he would learn a lot.

But Jongdae had always had a hard time keeping focused on just one task for a longer period of time and after what had felt like hours, he couldn’t sit still any longer.

   “Can’t we take a break?” he whined, flopping down onto his back dramatically. His head was swimming with Elvish words and phrases, giving him a small headache.

Minseok glanced up at him, eyes narrowed in light annoyance but when Jongdae put up his best puppy dog eyes, the leader sighed. “Fine, we’ll take a break,” he smiled. “You’ve worked hard.”

Jongdae whooped and quickly got up to find the others wherever they ran off to. Minseok followed, laughing quietly at Jongdae’s childish behaviour. As Jongdae looked back at the leader with a grin, Minseok just rolled his eyes and ran up to catch up with him.

They were going to get along just fine.


	17. New Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> R really likes Monsta X as well (as do I), so this was a chapter of self-indulgence xD  
> ~ M

**Chapter XVI**

_**New friends** _

 

Jongdae hummed to himself as they rode over a grassy meadow, the warm sun beginning to set behind them. They had travelled around Eirior for about a week now. At first, they had stayed at a proper inn like Minseok had promised and Jongdae had immensely enjoyed the soft beds and proper baths. They got all their clothes thoroughly washed and patched up as well – Jongdae had felt like a whole new person. Cleaning opportunities while on the road weren’t exactly optimal.

After having relaxed to their hearts’ content, and with nothing better to do, they had travelled around Eirior aimlessly, going through the small towns and villages they passed to see if they could help. It was mostly small stuff, the most exciting being a town that had needed help rebuilding some houses after a bad storm. Most of the work wasn’t even with magic but normal manual labour. Jongdae didn’t mind though, it felt nice being able to help people.

They were now heading for the next village on the map, but as it was getting late, Minseok called for finding a place to make camp.

Cheerful shouts suddenly sounded from behind them and Jongdae turned in his saddle to find another squad of knights riding up to them. Baekhyun hollered loudly and the rest of the knights followed as they too spotted the approaching knights. Once close enough, they all just about jumped off their horses to greet each other happily. Junmyeon and Jongdae exchanged looks as they too dismounted and they both stayed back a little awkwardly. 

The knights were all speaking Elvish, but Jongdae understood very little even with the regular language lessons with Minseok. He noticed these knights seemed quite young as well – around his own age. Were all squads like that?

It took a while for the new knights to spot Jongdae and Junmyeon, but eventually, one boy with hair so blonde it was almost white looked over and locked eyes with Jongdae. “Ah, who is that?” he asked in Elvish, looking at the two humans with curious eyes.

   “Kim Jongdae,” Jongdae introduced himself, bowing lightly in greeting and Junmyeon did the same, saying his own name. The other knights were now staring at them curiously as well and Jongdae wondered just how out of place the two obviously non-Elves looked in Elven clothing. None of them looked unfriendly but it was still unnerving having so many people blatantly staring at you.

One of the taller knights turned his attention to Minseok. He had short black hair, pointy Elven ears and was seemingly built from all muscle. When he wasn’t smiling, his stoic face was almost scary. Jongdae identified him as the leader by the brooch with the Onix Lei crest as well as a star on his tunic. “What are your plans?” he asked with a slightly dopey smile. It looked a little strange on such a big, slightly intimidating man, but it softened up his features a lot.

   “We were just looking for somewhere to make camp for the night,” Minseok answered.

   “Why don’t we camp together then?” the other leader asked, getting loud cheers from both squads.

They all got back on their horses and started looking for somewhere they could all settle down. The wind had picked up a bit and it would be nice to find some shelter.

It didn’t take long for them to find a nice little field surrounded by trees and hills that would help shield them from the wind. They quickly set up camp, taking up a lot of space with the seven added knights. Laughter and happy chatter was a constant background noise and it was clear to Jongdae they all knew each other very well.

Both Junmyeon and Jongdae felt a little awkward and out of place, so they stuck together and kept in the background while all the knights joked around, pretty much crawling all over each other.

Eventually, Kyungsoo joined them, having apparently had enough of the roughhousing. He stood silently for a while before speaking up. “Their squad was formed around two years after ours, so we have trained together a lot. We haven’t seen them in a long time. Their leader,” he pointed at the tall, brawny one with the brooch. “Sohn Hyunwoo. He’s an elf, got the magic to turn his skin to stone. Crazy strong as well, but that’s not magic.”

He pointed at another boy, very tall and lanky with light pink hair, pointy Elf ears and pouty lips. “Chae Hyungwon. An elf as well. He can manipulate your emotions at will as long as he touches you in some way. He doesn’t use it much, so don’t worry.”

   “Im Changkyun and Yoo Kihyun,” he gestured towards two other knights. The first had unruly, dirty blonde hair and a bit of a baby face though he held himself as if he was two meters tall. The other reminded Jongdae quite a lot of Minseok with a pale, delicate face and strong, piercing eyes. His hair was a bright orange, making him look a lot paler than he probably was. “Both Nymphs. Changkyun can fly, and Kihyun has a voice that can shatter a stone wall. If he asks if you want to hear him sing, and he will, say no.”

   “The last three are Faeries. Lee Jooheon, Shin Hoseok and Lee Minhyuk,” he continued as he pointed at the three knights respectively. Jooheon had lightly curled dark brown hair, narrow eyes and dimples when he smiled. Hoseok had slightly long, fluffy light brown hair, a distinctive angled face and he was obviously very muscular. The last, Minhyuk, was the one with white hair that had noticed Jongdae before. He had a friendly looking face with mischievous eyes and the way he moved and talked reminded Jongdae of Baekhyun.

   “Jooheon has magic that allows him to turn invisible, so watch out for pranks. Hoseok has enhanced strength, I saw him lifthis horse over some water once when it didn’t want to walk through it. Minhyuk,” Kyungsoo sighed slightly and Jongdae had a feeling he had been right about Minhyuk being like Baekhyun. “He can run faster than what the eye can see, when he moves he is near invisible.”

Jongdae and Junmyeon both nodded to show that they had heard Kyungsoo and were grateful for his introductions but kept quiet as they tried to absorb all the information. Jongdae had never been good with names.

Once camp was set up, they all settled by the fire. They nearly had to sit on top of each other to make space for them all and Jongdae had ended up squashed between Junmyeon and Minhyuk. The Faery was friendly and very talkative and had Jongdae nearly crying tears of laughter many times. The knight was also quite touchy-feely and had no problems wrapping his arms around Jongdae to stop himself from falling over from laughter. He currently had an arm around Hyungwon, who was on his other side, and a hand placed casually on Jongdae’s thigh.

   “What brings you all here?” Minseok asked after the mood had calmed down a bit.

   “We got a strange tip from a small village near the borders of Doreth. Several villagers claim to have seen suspicious activity, so we went to see if there was anything to it. We patrolled the areas close to the border for a couple of days but found nothing. We would have stayed for longer if possible, but we’ve been called to another matter, and since we found nothing we couldn’t say no,” Hyunwoo explained.

Minseok nodded, leaning forward in interest. “What did they see then?”

   “Humans,” Hyunwoo said and everyone but the Elf’s squad froze, heads snapping up. He didn’t notice though and kept going. “We went to check it out because we found it odd, Humans are almost never seen outside of their wall. We found no trace of any Humans though – we found no trace of anything.”

Jongdae shared a look with Junmyeon. It seemed they did not know about what was going on, about the potential war hanging over their heads. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have treated the rumours so lightly.

The other knights noticed how the mood had suddenly changed and looked around confused.

   “What’s wrong?” Hoseok asked. “Did we miss something?”

Minseok hesitated, so the others did as well. In the end, it was his decision whether to tell them or not. Perhaps it wasn’t up to them to inform anyone of the war until the rulers of the kingdoms had come up with some sort of plan. Once they did, perhaps they intended to then inform the whole of Onyx Lei.

But with some urging from the other knights, Minseok sighed. “You cannot tell this to anyone else, understood? I’m not sure I should even be telling you about this.”

The knights nodded solemnly and Minseok told them the whole story like he had with all the rulers. The more he spoke, the wider their eyes got and by the end, they were tensed up, all smiles gone. They were silent as they took in the information.

Eventually, it was Minhyuk who spoke up. “So that’s why you’re travelling with Humans. I was wondering. And they’re magi too?”

Both Junmyeon and Jongdae nod, Junmyeon muttering a quiet, “We are.”

   “We should go help them,” Changkyun said, Jongdae hearing his voice clearly for the first time. “Isn’t this more important?”

   “We have already promised our help somewhere else, we cannot break our word,” Hyunwoo said sternly, though his eyes showed he would help if he could. “They expect us there soon and we can’t not show up.”

   “It’s okay,” Minseok reassured. “We don’t yet know what this is, it still could be nothing. We will go see for ourselves and if we need help, we’ll send word.”

Hyunwoo nodded and his knights followed suit, though some didn’t look like they completely agreed. Jongdae knew that feeling – feeling powerless to do anything in a situation where so much was at stake.

   “Well then, now that’s decided, let’s lighten up the mood shall we?” Baekhyun stood up and clapped his hands, voice cheerful. Minhyuk jumped us as well with a whoop, “Let’s eat!”

In no time the knights had managed to pull together a small feast. There was food everywhere – the other squad even had meat, having taken down a deer not long ago according to Jooheon. The last of Jongdae’s hotteok and bungeo-ppang vanished quickly down the other knights’ stomachs with sounds of great pleasure as they asked Jongdae and Junmyeon questions much like Jongin had when they first met. They had never met an actual Human before.

The mood around the campfire quickly lifted as they ate and their laughter could probably be heard from far away. At one point Sehun snatched a piece of meat from under Changkyun’s nose which made the smaller knight grab Sehun and suddenly take off straight into the air. Everyone roared with laughter as Sehun squeaked and demanded to be put down, Changkyun only letting him when he had given him back the meat.

From there it turned into a small show of magic. Jongdae watched in fascination as Hyunwoo’s skin turned grey and hard as he transformed into what looked like a walking stone sculpture. Hoseok was able to lift him up like it was nothing even when his weight had probably at least tripled. When Chanyeol jokingly tried, the red-haired Elf nearly fell on his face.

Kihyun was only happy to sing when asked to and his voice really was beautiful until he tried to reach a high note and nearly blew up the campfire. Jongdae was sure his ears were going to be ringing for days.

Minhyuk and Baekhyun were good at riling each other up and they proved to be quite the annoying pair, though Jongdae found it very amusing to watch them annoy whatever target they chose. Eventually though, after having endured the two childish knights tugging on his ears, Hyungwon put a hand on each of them and muttered ‘sleep’. They conked out immediately, snoring on Hyungwon’s shoulder until the knight moved and the two sleeping boys cuddled up together instead.

They stayed up well into the night, eating and telling stories about what they had experienced since they last saw each other.

                                                             

Jongdae groaned as he woke up, blinking tiredly as he got used to the light. By the looks of the sunlight shining through the tent, it was already quite late into the morning. He stretched and rubbed his eyes before sitting up. Without bothering to put anything over his sleeping clothes, he stepped out of the tent.

A couple of the knights were already sitting by the fire and Jongdae greeted them with a yawn and a tired smile.

Changkyun handed Jongdae a piece of flatbread with honey on it and Jongdae accepted, though he still felt full after eating so much the night before.

One by one, the rest of the knights woke and joined them by the fire, mussed up hair and droopy eyes. For a long time, the only sounds were the crackles of the fire and the knights yawning.

After eating, Jongdae went back to the tent to put on some proper clothes and when he stepped out again, he felt a lot more awake. It seemed the others did as well and Minhyuk got up, clapping his hands excitedly. “Now we’re all awake, how about some training? We’re here anyway so we might as well help each other out. It would be nice to kick someone else’s ass for a change.”

   “We’ll see who’s going to be doing the kicking,” Baekhyun challenged as everyone agreed with loud cheers. Jongdae grinned excitedly, he was finally going to see some magic in action without having something trying to kill him.

   “Who’s first? Any volunteers?” Minhyuk asked loudly, holding out his arms. Hoseok stood up and walked out into a clear part of the field, looking back with a grin, daring anyone to go up against him. Baekhyun jumped up and walked out, smirking confidently.

They bowed respectfully but were both grinning tauntingly at each other. Minhyuk yelled out “go!” and Baekhyun immediately sent off a blinding light to try and surprise Hoseok, but the other knight foresaw it and had shielded his eyes just in time. The second the light disappeared, Hoseok struck and sent Baekhyun flying with a small shove. Baekhyun recovered quickly and was jumping back to strike in less than a second.

As they fought, Jongdae realized just how important normal hand-to-hand combat skills were. Had Baekhyun not excelled at this, he would have stood no chance with his light magic against Hoseok’s super strength. But when using his light to blind and distract, Baekhyun was able to get close enough to his opponent to do some real damage. Hoseok didn’t have tough skin like Hyunwoo, so Baekhyun could potentially win.

They kept sparring to the cheers of the other knights until Yixing stood up and called it off. He didn’t want them to do any real damage and they should save some strength, he said.

   “Let’s go leader against leader,” Sehun suggested, grinning devilishly at Minseok.

The two leaders didn’t even get to try and protest before they were pushed out into the field. Hyunwoo against Minseok. Though Minseok was quite compact and well-muscled, Hyunwoo was still a lot bigger than the Nymph. Jongdae knew size didn’t matter in fights like these, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit worried as Hyunwoo’s skin turned to stone. Any blow from Minseok would do damage to the Nymph himself as well.

As they bowed, Jongdae realized he was going to see Minseok’s magic for the first time and he perked up. The second Minhyuk yelled the word ‘go’, Minseok held out his hands, freezing Hyunwoo’s feet to the ground and then jumped up, landing a perfect kick right to the Elf’s chest. Hyunwoo fell to the ground from the impact, but was quickly back on his feet, charging against Minseok.

So Minseok’s magic was ice. Strangely fitting, Jongdae thought.

With Minseok’s ice helping slowing Hyunwoo down, the two turned out to be quite the equal match and they kept going tirelessly until Yixing stopped them as well.

Next up was Kihyun against Sehun, where Sehun cleverly used his wind magic to help block Kihyun’s voice from hitting him dead on. The whole fight had Jongdae’s ears ringing and he could feel a headache creeping up, but it was fascinating to see how so different types of magic matched up.

Then it was Hyungwon and Chanyeol, both equally tall and lanky but surprisingly graceful in their movements. Chanyeol used his fire to make it near impossible for Hyungwon to come anywhere near him, so his ability to manipulate emotions wouldn’t work unless he wanted to get burned himself. Hyungwon stubbornly kept trying though and was actually able to graze Chanyeol’s arm for a second. It wasn’t enough to have any big effect, but Chanyeol swayed unsteadily on his feet for a second or two. He managed to surround his body with fire though so Hyungwon couldn’t touch him again.

Jongdae didn’t know what standards the Onyx Lei had for their knights, or what a proper skilled fight actually looked like, but from what he could tell, they were all good. Really good. He wouldn’t want to cross the knights if they all fought like that. Why the Humans even wanted to dare try was a mystery to him. They stood no chance if they were to go up against the Onyx Lei – their weapons would be no help at all.

   “Well that was fun,” Minhyuk grinned as Yixing stopped Chanyeol and Hyungwon. The Faery ignored how Junmyeon was currently putting out a fire on Hyungwon’s sleeve and how Baekhyun and Jongin were nearly pissing themselves laughing as they dragged a drowsy Chanyeol away, and Minhyuk just kept talking. “I’ll volunteer for the next round.” He turned to Jongdae and smirked. “I want to see how your Humans handle themselves. Two against two. Jooheonnie?”

Jooheon got up along with Jongdae, Junmyeon joining them once Hyungwon’s sleeve was no longer burning. The two Humans shared a nervous look. It was really exciting to watch the fights, but Jongdae hadn’t expected to have to go a round himself. He wasn’t trained like they were. But he was going to give it his all so he could at least go down with some dignity.

This time Baekhyun was the one who yelled out ‘go’ and immediately both Jooheon and Minhyuk disappeared. Junmyeon and Jongdae stood back to back to cover each other, but it felt useless when they couldn’t even see who they were fighting.

A faint rustling came from Jongdae’s right but before he could even blink, his world was suddenly flipped upside down and his back met the ground hard. He coughed as he got up shakily, but as soon as he was up, he was forced back down again, his legs knocked out from under him. Junmyeon landed beside him with a thud and a groan.

Just to try something, Jongdae tried to spread a lightning bolt out over the area but it seemed it didn’t hit anything. Junmyeon tried as well, but his water hit nothing either. He felt ridiculous, lying there shooting blind. Minhyuk was too fast for the eyes to see and Jooheon was just plain invisible. They couldn’t hit them without knowing where they were.

Once again Jongdae hit the ground after having gotten up and he could hear the knights hollering from the sidelines. His face burned with embarrassment when an idea suddenly popped into his head.

   “Junmyeon, like the soldiers in the Government building!” he quickly urged the older boy and he could see the moment Junmyeon understood, his eyes widening and his lips curving into a smirk.

He stayed down but spread his hands out on the ground, slowly starting to cover the surface with water.

   “Do you yield?” Minhyuk teased, appearing for a second before vanishing again.

   “Not yet!” Jongdae challenged, trying to hide a wince. His body hurt from being knocked over so many times. They just needed a little more time.

Junmyeon nudged him with his foot, they locked eyes and then they moved. Junmyeon raised his hands and suddenly a thin sheet of water was hovering over the field and them, covering more than what Jongdae had thought he could manage. In the second before Jongdae moved, he saw where both Jooheon and Minhyuk were by following the ripples in the water. Then Jongdae stuck his hands up into the water and sent lightning from his fingertips.

Two yelps sounded and the two knights finally appeared as they dropped to the ground with groans of pain. Jongdae hadn’t shocked them too hard of course, just enough to bring them to their knees.

Junmyeon and Jongdae high-fived as the watching knights cheered loudly for them.

Man that felt good!

They were greeted with loud cheers and hard claps on the back as Junmyeon and Jongdae walked back over to where the rest of the knights watched. Even Minhyuk and Jooheon were clapping after they had eventually recovered and dragged themselves over as well.

   “Never thought I’d get beaten by a newbie. Good thinking though, I had no idea lightning travelled through water like that,” Minhyuk said impressed.

Minseok came over and placed a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder. “Nice job,” he congratulated both Junmyeon and Jongdae, then lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned closer to Jongdae. “It would have been unbearable if he actually won.”

When no one else volunteered for a next fight and with everyone still feeling quite tired from the long night, they decided it was time to go their separate ways. Both squads had places to be and they really shouldn’t be putting it off any longer than they already had, no matter how much fun it was.

So, they helped each other pack up camp, trying to keep the mood high though they knew they were going separate ways soon. Jongdae really hoped he was going to see the other squad again, they were a riot to hang out with.

Once all packed, they shared heartfelt goodbyes. Even Jongdae got tight hugs from all the other knights. Minhyuk squeezed him extremely tight and glared at him playfully. “I’ll kick your ass next time.”

   “Bring it on,” Jongdae challenged, excited to spar with the other knight again sometime.

Hyungwon clapped Jongdae on the shoulder and grinned. “Thank you. It was nice seeing him get a taste of his own medicine for a change.”

   “Glad to be of help,” Jongdae laughed, having to lean up to give the taller boy a hug.

Jongdae wasn’t usually that quick at making friends, having not found anyone back in Dorwall that he really clicked with, so it was a bit weird suddenly being so close to so many people despite not having known them that long. He wasn’t complaining though, it was nice to finally have found someone like himself.

When everyone had gotten their fair share of hugs, they all got on their horses and with some last spoken goodbyes, they headed in opposite directions. Minseok informed Jongdae and Junmyeon that it would be about two or three days travel to reach the borders of Doreth.

As they rode, Jongdae felt a mix of excitement and nervousness. They had no idea what awaited them, but hopefully, they would find something that could help them against the Humans.


	18. Doreth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I recently hit 900 followers on tumblr Imma do a double update to celebrate ^^  
> Things are finally kicking off for our knights xD  
> ~ M

**Chapter XVII**

_**Doreth** _

 

Mountains towered up in the distance as they stood on a hill and looked out on the last couple of kilometres before they reached Doreth. For the first time in a while, the sky was covered in grey clouds, giving everything a dreary feeling.

It had now been about a month since Jongdae left home with Junmyeon, Sehun, Chanyeol and Baekhyun, and Jongdae’d honestly so far had a hard time seeing any progress in what they had set out to do. But now, going after what could possibly be a big lead, he allowed himself to feel a little optimistic. Whatever they found – if they did find something – would hopefully bring them closer to a solution.

The closer they got to Doreth, the quicker the nature around them changed. Green grass was replaced by gravel and rubble, and bushes and trees with boulders and cliffs. Eventually, there was barely any green left and it reminded Jongdae quite a lot of Paneia – cold, grey and dead.

   “We’re going to split up,” Minseok said. “We’ll cover more ground in less time like that. We’ll go in groups of three and patrol the borders to see if we can find any evidence to the claims the villagers came with. Hyunwoo and his knights might not have found anything, but don’t let that discourage you, keep an eye out for anything. We don’t really know what we’re looking for, so even the smallest thing can be useful.”

He turned to look at them all. “Jongin, Baekhyun and Chanyeol, you take the part of the borders that stretch into Aupherisea. Yixing, Sehun, Junmyeon, you take the middle around this area. I’ll go north with Kyungsoo and Jongdae. Remember, this is recon only. Do not engage until we know what we’re up against, do you understand?”

They all nodded solemnly at his orders, knowing he was right. Until they knew what was happening it would be best to stay out of sight.

They helped each other split up their equipment and provisions as equally as possible and said their goodbyes.

   “We’ll meet back here in four days,” Minseok said as he got back up on his horse. “Take care and stay out of trouble.”

And so, they all split up, Jongdae feeling a little weird leaving them all behind. Neither Minseok nor Kyungsoo spoke much and even though it was a comfortable silence, Jongdae was a little bored. He had gotten used to the constant chatter and laughter of the knights and he had never been good a keeping quiet for too long. But he didn’t want to bother the two knights who seemed to be greatly enjoying the silence, so he did his best to keep quiet. It was going to be a long couple of days.

⬣

It took the rest of the day before Minseok thought they had gone far enough north and called for them to stop and make camp. With only two tents they were done much quicker than usual and it felt strange to take up only that little space. Minseok had his own tent as usual while Jongdae and Kyungsoo shared.

As Chanyeol wasn’t there, they had to start a fire on their own, which was apparently harder than Jongdae thought. He would have thought the knights knew how to use a flint after being on the road for so long, but it seemed they had depended on Chanyeol for too long.

After Kyungsoo nearly cracked the flint in frustration, Jongdae took over to try his luck. And it was a lot harder than it looked – he was able to produce some sparks, but none big enough to start a fire. He cursed in frustration and lightning crackled from his fingertips, sparking off the flint and surprisingly lighting a small ember. He roared in victory, calling the others over and they quickly nursed the fire until it was big enough to cook on.

While eating, Kyungsoo and Minseok helped Jongdae with his Elvish. It was quite a difficult language to learn as the way they pronounced words was so different from the Common Tongue, but Jongdae was slowly and surely improving. He was quite proud of himself, especially every time Minseok smiled approvingly whenever he got something right.

Since their horses needed rest, Minseok decided they wait until the next day to start their patrols and they huddled up around the fire.

                                                                

The searing sun was beating down on them as they rode along the borders of Doreth looking for any signs of Humans. Jongdae wasn’t really sure what exactly those signs would look like, but he kept his eyes wide open and peeled on their surroundings. So far, they hadn’t even seen any traces of animals living there, it was completely dead.

They had been there for hours and Jongdae was sweaty and bored, so he nearly cried in relief when Minseok called for them to go back to camp and eat lunch.

Lunch was eaten in silence as they were all kind of moody from being out in the hot sun. Jongdae felt sweaty, dusty and disgusting and he really wanted a bath.

   “I want to do some patrolling tonight after the sun has set to see if there is more activity at night,” Minseok eventually said. “So, we should try and get some sleep now.”

Jongdae and Kyungsoo retreated to their tent. They had made camp in the shadow of some trees so it luckily wasn’t too hot in the tent, but Jongdae still had a hard time falling asleep. Beside him, Kyungsoo fell asleep almost immediately, apparently not bothered by how Jongdae tossed and turned.

It was hard to sleep when it was still so light outside, but after using his cloak to cover his eyes, Jongdae eventually fell asleep as well.

⬣

They had finished dinner a long time ago and had sat by the fire as they waited for the sun to set so they could finally go out on their night patrol. It was pitch black, the half-moon doing little to help light the way. Minseok had brought torches but they were only for emergencies, he said, not wanting to make them too visible.

The moonlight hitting the sharp rocks and cliffs created twisted and eerie shadows. Sometimes Jongdae could even swear he saw the shadows move in an entirely unnatural way. He was not much for admitting it, but he was kind of scared. Every little noise had him jumping on his saddle, then curse at himself for being so weak.

He looked into the darkness of Doreth and froze as there was suddenly a pair of glowing eyes staring back at him.

   “You see that?” he called, voice annoyingly shrilly, giving away his fear. And of course, the eyes were gone as the knights looked over. They didn’t seem bothered by the fact that they were maybe being watched.

   “I could be a Troll,” Minseok said casually like it wasn’t even a little bit scary. “Don’t worry, they won’t come out here. They know they don’t stand a chance.”

Feeling only a little better, Jongdae just nodded and kept his eyes glued to the darkness, ready to unleash lightning on anything and everything that moved. Now he knew there could be Trolls close by, it felt like they were being watched from all directions.

   “Alright,” Minseok finally sighed after they had been out there for a couple of hours. “We’re not gonna find anything. Let’s go back.”

Jongdae didn’t need to be told twice and immediately turned Ráka around to go back to camp. The closer they got, the more tension left Jongdae’s body and the more tired he got.

He dropped down onto his sleeping bag and promptly fell asleep.

                                                                    

   “Oi, Jongdae, wake up. It’s lunchtime, you need to eat.”

Jongdae groaned as Kyungsoo pushed at his legs with his foot. Despite having, apparently, slept for a long time, Jongdae still felt dead on his legs as he dragged himself out of the tent. Both Minseok and Kyungsoo looked as exhausted as he felt when he joined them by the fire. They ate in a tired silence, all trying to gather any kind of strength before they were to head out.

   “Let’s go,” Minseok said when they finished eating and they all saddled up.

It was like that for the next two days. They patrolled the same dead paths, switching between day and night patrolling. As time passed, Jongdae started losing hope. They found nothing that could be of use to them. He wasn’t sure what he had expected – Hyunwoo’s squad had been there for a lot longer and had seen nothing, so why should they find something? He had really hoped they would though, just anything that could help them against the Humans.

They continued looking though, not wanting to give up. Eat, patrol, sleep, patrol on repeat.

On the third and final day before they had to head back and meet the others, the spirits around the campfire were low as they cooked their dinner. Minseok had even gone hunting and had come back with two rabbits to try and boost their morale. The delicious smell of meat cooking over the fire helped their mood a little, but it was hard to feel cheerful when it felt like they were failing.

Their silence was broken by a loud pop and suddenly there was a tall, silver-haired boy dropping into Kyungsoo’s lap out of nowhere, Jongdae startling so badly he fell back over the log he was sitting on.

   “Oh my god, I did it!” Jongin exclaimed loudly, grinning widely at them all as they stared back with wide eyes and hearts hammering in their chests.

   “What in the world?!” Kyungsoo asked loudly, scrambling to stand up as Jongin moved off his lap.

   “How did you get here?” Minseok asked, almost talking over Kyungsoo. “How did you know where we were?”

Jongdae was too shocked to say anything as Jongin got up and dusted himself off, suddenly looking serious.

   “I’ll explain on the way, but we have to go now,” he said, voice urgent.

No more questions asked, they all quickly packed up everything and got on their horses, Jongin riding with Kyungsoo.

   “We were on patrol when we thought we saw something – someone. This is going to sound crazy but…” Jongin hesitated for a second. “We saw like, half a person? It was only for a second and then they were gone, but we all saw it! We didn’t want to look anymore into it without you there, but we found something else as well. It’ll be easier to show. We’ve already alerted the others, they weren’t far away so Baekhyun and Chanyeol got to them quickly I think. They’ll meet us there.”

   “Half a person…” Jongdae muttered in quiet disbelief. It did sound crazy, but he had never seen Jongin look so serious before so he found himself believing the younger knight.

   “So how did you find us?” Kyungsoo asked, somehow finding that more interesting than what Jongin had just told them.

   “I’m not really sure, to be honest,” Jongin admitted, looking quite proud of himself. “I just knew I had to get to Minseok-hyung quickly, so I tried to concentrate, thinking about yo– “ he paused for a second and blushed. “Thinking about who I wanted to see and I teleported. And it worked. I had no idea I could do that.”

   “That’s great Jongin-ah,” Kyungsoo praised, a fond smile on his face. Jongdae rolled his eyes, Sehun was right, the two should really just get it together. He looked away and locked eyes with Minseok, who flicked his eyes at the couple and then rolled his eyes as well, grinning. The sun lit up the leader’s face in an almost ethereal light so he was glowing. Jongdae smiled back then quickly looked away, suddenly feeling awkward.

It took them only about an hour and a half to reach the rest of the knights who had all already met up. The sun was setting, their surroundings getting darker, but Minseok insisted he wanted to go see what they had found right away.

To make themselves as non-visible as possible, they left their horses behind and pulled up their cloaks to hide them easier in the shadows. Kyungsoo and Sehun both shrunk to their Faery form. They had to cross into Doreth territory and didn’t want to attract attention from the Trolls and whoever else was there.

They moved slowly and carefully over the rocky terrain that looked even scarier up close. The twilight created long, eerie shadows that seemed to almost follow them around. When Chanyeol finally stopped them, they were face to face with a steep rock wall. It stretched far to the right and kind of melted into a mountain to the left of them. It reminded Jongdae of the Great Wall. Though this was supposed to be a cliff, it didn’t really seem… natural.

   “Watch this,” Chanyeol mumbled and picked up a rock. He threw it towards the wall much to Jongdae’s confusion but instead of bouncing off like Jongdae had expected, it went _through_. Jongdae blinked in complete disbelief as the rock just vanished.

Before he could get a chance to try and wrap his head around it, Minseok gestured for them all to head back and they slowly made their way back to camp where they gathered around the fire. They were all deep in thought, trying to understand what they had just seen and what it could mean.

   “Tell me again what you saw,” Minseok said.

   “We were on patrol when we heard some rocks falling down not far from us, so we went to see what it was,” Baekhyun explained animatedly. “It happened a couple of times and we followed after it for a little while because we couldn’t see what it was. Then suddenly half a person appeared out of nowhere – it was like half of the upper body like they had stumbled or something? It was only for a second and then they were gone again, but we all saw it. They had led us to the wall we just showed you. There was this rumbling and the ground almost vibrated, so rocks came falling down and we saw them disappear into the wall.”

   “Seems like some sort of illusion,” Minseok mused almost like he was talking to himself. “Definitely magic. I need to see where the rocks disappear to, there must be something on the other side. We’ll go out again once the sun has set, but we can’t all go this time, there’s too great a risk of us getting discovered. We don’t know what’s on the other side, so I’ll need someone with more offensive magic.”

The leader thought for a while as he looked around at them all. “Kyungsoo, Doreth is your element, your magic would be greatly helpful. And… Jongdae, you can strike from a distance, yes? With your lightning bolts?”

Jongdae nodded, surprised at being called. He hadn’t thought the leader would see him fit for an actual mission yet – at least not over his own knights.

   “Then the three of us will go. Sehun, I want you with us as a lookout. If anything happens, you go back and get the others, okay? The rest of you will stay here for backup. Remember to stay out of sight. The Trolls already know we’re here, but it’s not unusual for Onyx Lei to patrol the borders so hopefully whoever it is won’t expect us. Be ready for anything.”

This was it, they had possibly found what they came for.

They waited in tense silence until the sunlight faded away into darkness and then they moved.

Sehun shrunk and made himself comfortable on Jongdae’s shoulder before they entered Doreth territory. They moved slower than before, careful not to make too much noise as they made their way through the rugged terrain.

Finally, they reached the cliff wall and stopped. As they looked up at it, Jongdae could feel Sehun grabbing his tunic tightly in his small hands. When he glanced down, the young knight looked uncharacteristically nervous and Jongdae tried to smile reassuringly despite being nervous himself.

Minseok looked at them all one by one, then nodded and faced the fall. He took a deep breath, stepped forward and vanished, Jongdae’s heart dropping to his stomach.

It felt hard to breathe as he and Kyungsoo stepped up, glancing at each other. Kyungsoo nodded at him once and moved to step forward, Jongdae quickly doing the same, and they stepped into the void.

For a second Jongdae had the horrible feeling of falling, surrounded by complete darkness, then just as suddenly it was over and he gasped for air as a hand shot out and pushed his chest back. On his shoulder Sehun was gripping onto his shirt with a terrified shriek.

He looked down and nearly fainted as he realized he was standing on the edge of a deep gorge and that Minseok’s quick reflexes were the only reason he hadn’t fallen to his death. Beside him, Kyungsoo had luckily stopped just in time, face deathly pale as he looked down into the abyss.

Minseok slapped Jongdae’s arm, and Jongdae shook his head, snapping out of his terrified trance to look at what Minseok was trying to show him. His jaw dropped, heart jumping to his throat.

On the other side of the gorge was what looked scarily a lot like some sort of military camp with rows and rows of barracks eerily lit up by torches. Even though it was late, there was clearly a lot of activity over there with shadows moving about. The gorge was acting as a moat, surrounding the whole camp – the only way to get over being a bridge further away from them. They, however, were trapped on a ledge with nowhere to go but back through the wall behind them or into the darkness below.

Something that felt a lot like ice settled in Jongdae’s stomach. Were they looking at the army the Humans were building? Jongdae didn’t know much about Trolls but he was sure they were too stupid for something like that and the knights were sure they had seen a person. It had to be Humans.

As they stared at the camp, the light from one of the barracks suddenly started flashing different colours, blues, reds and greens shining through the windows. What the hell? Minseok was right, there was definitely magic at play here. And by the looks of it, many different types. Just what were they up against?

Minseok gestured for them to retreat and Jongdae held his breath as he went through the wall, stomach lurching uncomfortably at the feeling of falling. They made their way back to camp and rejoined the others, Minseok telling them all what they had seen.

   “We are in over our heads here, we can’t take this alone until we know what we’re dealing with,” Minseok finished, face scrunched in a frown.

   “I think I know a way for us to maybe find out what it is, but…” Junmyeon spoke up hesitatingly, locking eyes with Jongdae. “Caelcar.”

Jongdae understood immediately. Caelcar was the city in Paneia where every Human guard – and probably soldiers as well now he knew they had those – where trained. It was also the city where anything important was kept hidden and protected in huge vaults underground. Back in time, it had been the strategic meeting point for war generals, so it had a long history of being an important city in the kingdom. Only people who worked there – who worked for the Government – lived in the city.

After the Government building in Dorwall got compromised, Jongdae had no doubt everything had been moved to Caelcar. 

Junmyeon explained to the others what he knew about the city and what he thought might be in it. When he finished, Minseok sat in silence for a while, thinking. Eventually, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “What do you all think?” he asked, sounding almost defeated. “What should we do?”

Jongdae was a little surprised that he asked them all. So far Jongdae had only seen him make the decisions for himself or after confiding with Yixing and Kyungsoo. Not once had he asked for advice so openly like that. By the look of surprise on the knights’ faces, it wasn’t something that happened often.

   “It does seem like Caelcar is one of our only options.” Yixing was the first to speak up. “We don’t know what’s in that camp, so it would be unwise to try and take it on. And what if it’s not the only one out there? It seems all the information we need is in Caelcar, it makes sense to go there.”

   “But…” Baekhyun spoke up hesitantly, only continuing when Minseok nodded for him to go on. “Shouldn’t we tell someone about this? This is not something I think we should take on alone. If it’s a danger to everyone, they deserve to know.”

   “And what if they decide to mobilize and move out?” Sehun added. “If they attack, people around here won’t be safe. They have no way to protect themselves.”

Everyone fell quiet. All three of them had really good points. They needed to get to Caelcar if they wanted to know what they were up against so they could hopefully be a step or two ahead. But the different kingdoms should know of the development so they could prepare. And they had no idea when the Humans planned to strike, so the people close to the borders could be in danger. But how much time did they have to do all of this before it was too late? By the looks of it, the Humans were ready to strike at any moment. They needed to act, and fast.

Minseok was frowning deeply as he thought. “You’re all right, I’m afraid,” he said, voice quiet. “I… I think we have to split up again, otherwise we would spend too much time we don’t have. I want some of you to go to Inaenamelle where the rulers are hopefully still gathered. They need to be informed of this. I also want some of you to go find Hyunwoo and his squad then come back here to make sure everything stays peaceful. Our duty is to protect the people, we can’t leave them to fend for themselves. I will go to Caelcar and see what there is to find. I would have liked to take both Junmyeon and Jongdae with me, but I think it would be best for one of you to go to Inaenamelle to share information. I’ll let you decide yourself what you want to do.”

The two Humans looked at each other, both already knowing who was going where. Junmyeon knew far more than Jongdae, was a lot smarter and more strategic, so he would be of a lot more use in Inaenamelle. Which meant Jongdae was going to Caelcar.

   “I’ll go to Inaenamelle,” Junmyeon said and Minseok nodded, looking at Jongdae.

   “It’ll be just the two of us,” Minseok informed him. “It’s the safest way to travel when we’re not the full squad because we won’t attract too much attention.” He turned to look at them all.“Now, I’ll need two of you to go with Junmyeon to Inaenamelle.”

Chanyeol and Baekhyun both raised their hands, their hands between them holding onto each other tightly. That meant Jongin, Kyungsoo, Yixing and Sehun were going to stay near Doreth once they had found Hyunwoo and his knights.

With that decided, they moved to set up the rest of the camp. The mood was very low at the thought of being separated for an indefinite amount of time. Chanyeol and Baekhyun tried to lighten the mood with some half-hearted jokes, but when they fell flat, they eventually gave up.

As they sat around the fire trying to eat some dinner though none of them seemed particularly hungry, they all kind of gravitated towards each other and eventually ended up in one big cuddle pile. Jongdae was squashed comfortable between Jongin, Chanyeol and Baekhyun, feeling warm and cosy. He was really going to miss them all.

When they went to bed, they piled way too many into one tent and Jongdae honestly wasn’t sure who was in the tent with him. Sehun’s face was right by his own, and he could feel an elbow digging into his spine – Yixing? And it was definitely Chanyeol snoring into his ear.

He fell asleep, feeling warm.


	19. Through the wall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter one, but I still hope you guys like it! ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter XVIII**

_**Through the wall** _

 

Jongdae took a deep breath and stepped out from the bushes to face the two guards standing watch by the Great Wall.

   “Help me, please. My friend is hurt!” he called, voice weak.

The two guards straightened up, hands on their swords as they took in his dishevelled appearance – messy hair and torn clothes. He walked with a slight limp as he moved closer. “Please, I tripped and can’t carry him any longer. He needs a doctor.”

   “ID card,” was the first thing one of the guards said and Jongdae fumbled to get his ID out of his pocket. “Here here, now _please_!” his voice was desperate, his mind praying that his name hadn’t been flagged and that he would get recognized.

   “What happened?” the other guard asked coolly, handing Jongdae his ID back.

   “We were ambushed. They took everything we have, now please, help me. I can’t carry him,” Jongdae pleaded, starting to worry that they were going to just leave him there.

The guards looked at each other for a moment, then nodded and one of them followed Jongdae. He led the guard towards the bushes he had come out from where they found a small person lying unconscious on the ground, clothes torn and covered in dirt. The guard lifted him up easily and the hood that had previously covered Minseok’s face fell aside. With the dirt on his face, it wasn’t easy to see that he wasn’t Human unless you already knew it, but Jongdae still worried they would realize what Minseok was.

Jongdae’s heart hammered wildly in his chest as they were let through the gates and into Paneia. They entered a sort of courtyard surrounded by barracks were the guards working by the wall probably lived. Multiple guards were stationed around the area, ready to frisk anyone who wanted to get into the kingdom though it was a rare occurrence. They walked right past them all and into one of the barracks where Minseok was put on a bed in what looked like a medical room. It had two beds, a curtain to separate them and a cabinet with bandages and such.

   “Stay here,” the guard ordered and then left them, locking the door behind him. Jongdae waited until the footsteps faded down the hall, then whispered, “Alright.”

Minseok slowly sat up in bed and grimaced as he touched the mud on his face. “Was that really necessary?” he grumbled.

   “Yes, otherwise they would have seen you’re not Human,” Jongdae sighed, having had this discussion before. “Now, let’s find a way out before they come back. I’d rather not do plan B.”

Unfortunately, footsteps sounded before they had even gotten a chance to look around the room and Minseok quickly laid back down on the bed, body going completely limp. One of the guards from before – a tall, beefy guy with a crooked nose and a constant grimace on his face came in, followed by another person.

   “Your friend was hurt?” the person asked, probably a doctor. Jongdae nodded and pointed at Minseok on the bed. The doctor started checking over the Nymph, Jongdae holding his breath. One wrong move and the doctor would realize he was faking it. A lot could go wrong but Minseok had turned out to be a brilliant actor – he almost looked dead.

   “No injuries,” the doctor hummed, narrowing his eyes. “You said you were attacked?”

Shit. “I – yes, we were. He hit his head and passed out. I – I think they used magic, but I didn’t see it happen,” Jongdae quickly lied. “We never saw them coming. Can – can you help him?”

   “I can’t see anything,” the doctor said after having checked over Minseok’s head again. He looked over at Jongdae. “I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do. We’ll have to wait until he wakes up. When he does, give him this tonic for the pain and send for me.”

   “Thank you, doctor,” Jongdae smiled weakly and took the small vial. “I’ll make sure he takes it.”

The doctor nodded then left the room but the guard stayed being, staring at Jongdae with a look that had chills running down his spine. “Why were you out there in the first place?” he asked, clearly suspicious.

Alright, plan B it was. Jongdae gathered every bit of calm in him and looked at the guard coolly. “I’m afraid that’s classified information,” he said, making his voice as level and authoritative as possible. This had to work.

The guard didn’t look one bit convinced as he huffed and stepped closer threateningly. “Classified? You’re gonna have to come up with a better story than that,” he snarled.

Jongdae stood up, squaring his shoulders and puffing out his chest to try and seem at least a little bit intimidating despite the guard being much bigger than him. “I have been ordered by the President himself not to speak a word of this to anyone, and certainly not a lowly guard like you. If you want me to talk, bring me your superior.”

His heart was about to beat out of his chest and he could feel his hands getting clammy, dreading the guard calling his bluff.

The guard stared him down, eyes narrowed and face twisted. Then he smirked evilly. “Fine. But know the punishment will be severe should you be lying. The Chief does not like being lied to.”

He left the room and Jongdae sagged down into a chair, all air leaving his body in a whoosh as he breathed out in relief. So far so good. Now they just needed to convince the Chief. No problem at all.

   “Great acting,” Minseok mumbled with a small grin, eyes still closed. “Even I almost believed you.”

   “Why thank you.” Jongdae rolled his eyes and swiped at Minseok’s leg. “You got the easy part so be quiet.”

Minseok just chuckled, eyes crinkling.

They didn’t have to wait for long before the door opened and a man with clear high status walked in. His uniform was covered in medals which he wore with great pride, chest puffed out to show them off. His stiff face was held high with clear authority as he stared Jongdae down with steely grey eyes.

   “You asked to see me,” he said, clearly unimpressed. “Know that if you lie to me, I will reward you with your very own cell somewhere and leave you to rot and die alone. I do not have time for nonsense. Now, tell me why I was disturbed.”

Jongdae felt himself starting to sweat nervously and he had to hold back from gulping terrified. He breathed in and tried to calm himself. His voice was surprisingly steady as he spoke up. “Do you know of the _Solas Na Gealaich?”_ he asked. It was a huge gamble. They had no idea how wide the information about the Elven gem had spread, who was in the know and who wasn’t. Was it even classified information anymore? But it was all they had, so they’d had to try it.

The Chief’s eyes widened, his face turning red. He barked out an order for the guards to leave and they quickly scurried out of the room like they had been burned.

   “How do you know about that?” he hissed right in Jongdae’s face, Jongdae feeling himself shake a little in fear. “No one is supposed to know about that. Who told you?”

“We were sent to try and retrieve it again, but the Elves caught on to us. We barely made it out alive,” Jongdae said, voice only quivering a little. “But we know where they moved the gem to and have to inform the President right away. Once my friend wakes up, we’ll leave.”

The Chief glared down at him, face red and a vein pounding on his forehead. Jongdae tried holding eye contact, not wanting to show any sign of weakness. It hadn’t worked completely just yet, he needed a final blow to sell his story. He scrambled to come up with anything, then his eyes caught on the glittering medals. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.

   “I can either tell the President how you hindered our work,” Jongdae started, feigning nonchalance. “Or, I could inform him how helpful you’ve been and how we could not have done this without you. I’m sure he would find some way to reward you, I hear he has this medal for war heroes.”

Bingo. The Chief’s eyes glazed over for a second and he smiled sleazily at the thought of getting recognition from the President. His greed and want for power were bigger than his suspicion. The thought of getting another shiny medal was enough to fool him. Humans really were stupid.

   “Of course, we’ll do anything we can to help. I hope you can understand our hostility, we have to be careful in these times,” he said, voice overly smooth and borderline creepy. “I’ll make sure your friend gets the best care and that you’ll be provided with whatever you may need. Let me know when you leave so I can make sure you get sent off properly.”

Jongdae nodded, grinning triumphantly. “You are very kind, thank you.”

The guard from before came in as the Chief left, looking like he had swallowed a lemon. “Is there anything I can do for you?” he drawled sarcastically.

   “Some new clothes would be nice,” Jongdae smirked, loving how the guard looked like he would rather swallow nails than do anything for Jongdae. “Maybe a bowl of water and a washcloth as well.”

With the look of a petulant child, the guard stomped towards the door. “Oh, and some food as well, please,” Jongdae called, holding back a laugh as the guard’s face turned so red it looked like he was ready to burst. He slammed the door after him.

   “Don’t push it,” Minseok mumbled but when Jongdae turned to him, the Nymph was grinning.

   “Oh come on, the guy is a total asshole,” Jongdae laughed.

Not long after, the guard came back with another guard, carrying what Jongdae had requested. “I’ll be right outside your door in case you need anything,” he said with a fake smile, the underlying threat clear.

Jongdae rolled his eyes and pulled the curtain over so it blocked their view of the door. He grabbed the new clothes provided and quickly worked to change out of his rags and wash off the filth. He did feel a little sad, he had really liked the Elven clothes and now wearing Human clothes again felt wrong. The fabric was more stiff and scratchy and overall uncomfortable.

They had both been provided with a dark blue, long-sleeved shirt and black pressed pants as well as a travelling cloak.

When he was done, he turned around and found Minseok lying on the bed watching him amusedly and Jongdae felt his face get warm. He had forgotten the knight was actually there as he had been so quiet. Jongdae had basically just stripped in front of him.

The leader just grinned at him and got up to wash and change his own clothes, Jongdae quickly turning around. “You don’t have to. Feel free to look if you want,” Minseok teased. “I owe you a show.”

   “Fuck you,” Jongdae huffed, face and neck burning.

The two had gotten closer after spending two days alone together and Jongdae had discovered that Minseok had a childish side that liked stupid jokes and laughing at himself. It was a completely different side than Jongdae had expected but it was sort of endearing. He could switch between being a cool, collected leader of a squad of knights, to a young man giggling over a stupid joke he had made himself in a second, and Jongdae had yet to get used to it.

He could hear Minseok changing and washing behind him, humming some song Jongdae didn’t know. When he eventually let Jongdae know he could turn around, the Human could hardly recognize him. His curly hair had been straightened by the water and was now so long it almost touched the tip of his nose so it helped cover up most of his non-Human features. It felt completely wrong to see him in Human clothes, they were too plain and made him look… dull. Jongdae didn’t like it.

They shared the food provided for them though it was just boring, flavourless bread with a thin slice of ham on it, but it was better than nothing. Jongdae had gotten kind of hungry anyway. They had just finished when there was a knock on the door and Minseok quickly laid down on the bed though he kept his eyes open this time. It was time for them to get out.

   “Oh, I see your friend is finally awake.” It was the doctor. “Good. How do you feel? Did you drink the tonic?”

   “I feel tired, but the tonic really helped, thank you, Doctor,” Minseok said weakly, sending the doctor a tired smile. He mumbled the words purposely to disguise his accent.

   “That’s good to hear, let me know if you need any more,” the doctor nodded. “I would like to keep you here for a day or two for observation though. Just to make sure you are alright.”

   “Thank you, doctor but I’m afraid we can’t. We have somewhere to be,” Jongdae quickly said. Staying any longer would mean getting discovered. “We have to leave as soon as possible.”

The doctor was about to disapprove but Minseok slowly sat up. “It’s okay doctor, I can handle it. The mission is more important.”

Though he was frowning the doctor eventually nodded. “Very well. I’ll inform the Chief that you are ready to go.”

They thanked him before he left, grinning at each other as the door closed. Their plan was actually working. They were now one step closer to Caelcar. Their favourite guard came to get them and he led them out into the courtyard where the Chief was waiting.

   “Good to see you back on your feet,” the Chief nodded at Minseok. He gestured towards one of the guards who stepped forward and handed Jongdae a packed rucksack. “We’ve packed the essentials for you, but I’m afraid we can only spare you one horse.”

Both Jongdae and Minseok bowed gratefully. “Thank you so much, it's greatly appreciated,” Jongdae said. “I won’t forget to mention your assistance to the President.”

The Chief grinned at the mention of the President and he clapped his hands together in glee. “I’ll send one of my men with you to make sure you reach your destination safely.” 

   “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary,” Jongdae quickly reassured him. That would ruin everything. “We won’t want to take him away from his important duties. And I know that you and your men keep our kingdom safe, I’m confident we’ll be just fine.” A little flatter was all it took for the Chief to agree.

As they mounted the horse, Minseok taking the reins, Jongdae wanted to take one last risk to see if they really were heading to the right place. If it backfired, they still had a good chance of escaping. He glanced at Minseok, having not discussed this with him beforehand but decided to go along with it.

   “I do have one question, actually,” he said directed at the Chief. “Is the President still at his meetings in Caelcar? We were told he would travel back and forth and I don’t want us to go there in vain in case he’s back in Dorwall.”

The Chief blinked and for a second Jongdae feared their cover was blown, but then he smiled. “I believe the President has just returned to Dorwall from a meeting.”

Jongdae thanked him again and nudged Minseok to tell him to get them out of there. Not having to be told twice, Minseok clicked his tongue and got the horse going. Both were tense as they neared the exit of the courtyard, both fearing they would get stopped any second because their cover had been blown.

But nothing happened and in no time, they were out of sight of the outpost.

   “What was that about?” Minseok asked.

   “The President is never in Caelcar if he can avoid it,” Jongdae answered with a grin. “He always sends someone in his place. He hates it there, everyone knows that. So, if he’s really been travelling there, it means that we’re going to the right place. I just wanted to make sure.” 

Minseok looked back at him, clearly impressed. His lips stretched into a smile and he startled giggling like a child, making Jongdae laugh as well. Soon they were both laughing loudly, holding onto each other so they wouldn’t fall off the horse. Jongdae felt almost euphoric, invincible.

   “I cannot believe that actually worked,” Jongdae laughed, trying to catch his breath. “It was almost too easy.”

   “Humans are fucking stupid,” Minseok wheezed. As Jongdae agreed with him, he suddenly realized he hadn’t been thinking of himself as a Human for a while. He had almost forgotten that he actually was a Human and not an Elf or a Nymph. It had been Humans against him and the knights for so long he had stopped thinking of himself as a part of Paneia. It felt… weird.

   “And I must say, you are quite the actor,” Minseok said, snapping Jongdae out of his thoughts. “I’m impressed.”

   “You weren’t bad yourself,” Jongdae grinned, shaking off the weird feeling.

He was just happy they hadn’t had to resort to plan C, which had been to fight their way out. They had spent their way to the Great Wall planning how they would get in. They had only gotten to plan C, so if that had not worked… Jongdae was just happy B had worked. Minseok and he would be far away once the Chief realized he had been lied to, and there would be no cell for Jongdae to rot in. 


	20. Breaking in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this from my new apartment you guys! And things are finally starting to move along in the story, so I hope you'll like it! ^^   
> ~ M

**Chapter XIX**

_**Breaking in** _

 

They had been given a small tent, two thin sleeping bags and some food – not quite the ‘luxury’ they were used to, but it would do for a night. Caelcar wasn’t that far away and they would have been able to reach it before dark but they decided to make camp near the city and wait until morning. Jongdae had never been there, so they had no idea what to expect and they wanted to see the city first.

The outskirts of a plantation gave them cover on three sides while giving them a gorgeous view over some fields on the fourth. Caelcar was only a walking distance away on the other side of the plantation, so they had decided to leave the horse by a farm they passed on the way. They had no idea how long they would be in Caelcar or how they would end up leaving, and they didn’t want to just abandon the horse somewhere.

Still riding high on their victory, they set up camp in high spirits and they allowed themselves to relax. The sun set in front of them as they sat by the fire, casting a golden glow over the fields. Calm settled over their little camp as they ate the dry bread and cheese they had been provided. Insects were buzzing about lazily, glowing gold in the setting sun.

As the sun got lower, the light reached the two campers and Jongdae basked in the warmth it gave. He turned to Minseok to comment on something but the words got caught in his throat. The light danced across Minseok’s face, his pale skin shimmering like ice crystals. The shadows cast accentuated his sharp features… he looked ethereal. Jongdae found himself unable to look away and he was suddenly reminded of what the will-o’-the-wisps had shown him. He honestly didn’t know what to feel.

Minseok must have felt him staring because he turned his head slightly, glancing at the Human. When their eyes met, Jongdae quickly looked away, feeling embarrassed at being caught staring. “Is there something on my face?” the Nymph asked, blinking obliviously.

   “N-no,” Jongdae muttered, turning his head away to hide the blush he could feel warm up his cheeks.

   “Then why were you staring?” Minseok was teasing him now.

   “I was not,” Jongdae huffed.

   “You were too!” Minseok shot back, smirking devilishly.

   “Was not!” Jongdae said stubbornly. Had he been standing he would have stomped his foot. “You’re imagining things.”

   “Okay then, if you say so,” Minseok grinned cheekily, winking at him and Jongdae stuck out his tongue, showing the leader lightly. Minseok gasped and showed back, toppling Jongdae over. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

They stayed up late, trading stories and laughing loudly, only retreating to the tent once it got too chilly to stay out. The tent was a bit smaller than what they usually had, just big enough for two people though it was probably only for one. They squeezed into their sleeping bags, Jongdae suddenly feeling a little awkward lying so close to Minseok even though he had pretty much shared a sleeping bag with many of the other knights. But never with Minseok.

   “I’m sorry if I move around a lot,” Minseok mumbled, letting out an embarrassed chuckle. “I’m used to sleeping alone and having a lot more room. Just kick me if I annoy you.”

   “It’s okay,” Jongdae muttered back. “I’m a heavy sleeper.”

They fell silent and it didn’t take long for Minseok to fall asleep, his breathing slowing down into little puffs and content noises. Much like a cat. Jongdae laid awake for a while, listening to the soft breaths of the Nymph – who did indeed squirm around a lot – before he too fell asleep.

                                                                    

They looked over Caelcar, standing just at the edge of the plantation. The city was surrounded by plantation on all sides, only one road leading up to the thick stone wall surrounding the city itself. The wall had what looked like shards of glass embedded on the top to prevent anyone from crawling over. The city was surprisingly small they discovered, as they walked around it to check for any entrances, and it only had that one gate. They had no way of looking over the wall though, so they didn’t know what awaited them in there. The only thing they could see was what looked like a giant stone castle towering above the city and Jongdae was sure that it would be the place they needed to go.

   “What is it with you Humans and your walls?” Minseok sighed, frustrated that it got a lot harder for them to get in.

Jongdae didn’t say anything, having fully expected a wall to be there. It really was a thing the Humans did for protection and it was mostly quite effective, which was also why he hadn’t been able to come up with any ideas of how they were going to get in. They had no Sehun to give them a boost over the wall and the only entrance was heavily guarded.

   “You don’t suppose we can use our story to get us in here?” Minseok asked, only joking a little. “Are all Human’s as stupid as that guy?”

   “Hey,” Jongdae whined though he couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Remember who you’re talking to. But no, there is no way they’ll let us on without any kind of proof. Especially not when the President is not actually there. And you don’t even have an ID card. I’m surprised they didn’t ask for one at the border really.”

As they talked a couple of horse-drawn carts pulled up to the gates and Jongdae watched as they were thoroughly searched before being let in. The guards checked everything but the bottom. He smirked, now knowing how they would get in.

   “If we can stop the next ones for a minute or two, we can get in!” Jongdae said excitedly after explaining his idea to Minseok. The leader didn’t look fully convinced but as he didn’t have any better ideas, it was decided.

The two followed the road up until it was surrounded by plantation on both sides, and they settled behind some bushes. And then they waited.

Jongdae found it quite funny how he had smuggled the knights into Dorwall on a cart, and now he was about to smuggle himself into Caelcar in the same way. Everything about this mission actually reminded him of how they broke into the Government building in Dorwall to retrieve the gem. This time though, there were only two of them instead of five.

His plan was easier said than done though as hours passed without any carts in sight. The two waiting boys eventually settled down more comfortably on the ground and pulled out their lunch. When they had run out of food to entertain them, they turned to child games to keep away the boredom. More hours passed and lunch turned to dinner as day turned to evening and the two boys started losing hope.

They had just begun their nth game of ‘what am I thinking of’ when they finally heard the sounds of horses approaching. They jumped up on their knees so they could peek out through the bushes. Concealed by the growing shadows of the plantation, they watched as three wagons came towards them, heading for Caelcar.

Once the middle one was right in front of them, Minseok stuck out his hand and froze the front wheels of the first wagon to the ground, Jongdae quickly shattering it with a small lightning bolt so they wouldn’t think magic was the source of the now cracked wheel.

The man steering the wagon swore loudly, hopping down to check the damage. He called the others over, asking for a spare wheel and some help lifting up the wagon, and while their attention was elsewhere, Jongdae and Minseok snuck out from their bush and each crawled under a wagon.

Holding onto it was harder than Jongdae had expected as there was very little to actually grab, but they had to so he clung onto whatever he could and hoped that he had enough strength to last until they were in Caelcar. The wagon jerked as it started moving again, Jongdae nearly losing his grip.

His arms and legs were burning and he was so close to just letting go when the carts stopped and he could hear voices. They were by the gates.

He held his breath, his whole body shaking with the effort of keeping him up as he waited, dreading for them to suddenly decide to check the bottom and find him. Then, with a jerk, the cart started moving again and Jongdae was in Caelcar.

They drove the carts into a building where he heard the coachmen talk about dinner as they freed the horses from the reins and then they left the building, pulling a heavy-sounding door closed behind them. Jongdae stayed put until he was completely sure they were gone and that there was no one else in the building before he let himself drop to the ground. His whole body felt like jelly and he laid there uselessly for a while before even attempting to stand up. When there were no other noises, he grew concerned. Had Minseok not made it?

   “Jongdae!” a face suddenly appeared right by his head, peeking under the wagon and Jongdae swallowed back a scream. “Oh thank god, I thought you hadn’t made it,” Minseok said in relief. He helped Jongdae out from under the wagon and Jongdae looked around as he dusted himself off.

They were in a warehouse of some sort, stacks of boxes all around them, though it was difficult to see with no windows and the sun setting outside. From the almost complete lack of light creeping through the cracks in the old building, the sun was almost completely gone by now. Perfect, it would be easier to hide in the dark.

Without any windows to look out of, they had to use the door and they slowly pulled it open just enough for them to peek out. “I’ll try and see what’s on the other side,” Minseok whispered almost inaudibly, sneaking out of the door and disappearing around the corner of the building before Jongdae could protest. But he knew Minseok could take care of himself so he turned his attention back to what he could see. They needed to know at least a little bit of the layout before trying to leave the warehouse. Torches placed along the streets and along the buildings as well as the fading sunlight provided just enough light for Jongdae to be able to see his surroundings.

From where he was he could see a couple of barracks as well as another big warehouse. The smell of food drifted from a building not far from where he was and he could hear talking and laughter, so it must be the dining hall. And of course, not that far into the city was the huge castle-like building. It reminded him a lot of the Government building in Dorwall with its dull grey colours, but this had an older feel to it. Spires and rounded corners were a stark contrast to the usual straight and angled buildings Jongdae was used to. It really did look like a castle from the old times.

And old castles like that usually had underground crypts and dungeons. This had to be where they kept everything.

There were a couple of guards patrolling the area and some other people moving about the barracks, but it was honestly less than what Jongdae had thought. Perhaps they were convinced no one would get past the wall.

Some shuffling to his left had Jongdae tensing up, ready to put down whoever it was but he sagged back when he saw it was just Minseok coming towards him, walking hunched over and cloak pulled tight around him. The dark fabric of his clothes made him near invisible in the shadows of the warehouse. They both crawled back into the warehouse and quietly closed the door behind them.

   “There’s nothing but barracks and some training grounds on that side,” Minseok whispered right into Jongdae’s ear, breath tickling his skin. “The city is a lot smaller than I thought, I could see every end from where I was.”

Jongdae nodded and gestured toward where they castle was, Minseok nodding as well, probably thinking the same as Jongdae. They had to get in there somehow.

   “We won’t have the time to search both over and underground before they find us,” Jongdae muttered. “We have to get it right.”

   “What do you think?” Minseok asked, turning fully to Jongdae.

Jongdae thought for a while. He had to get this right otherwise their hard work would be wasted and they would not get another chance. “Definitely underground,” he decided, sounding surer than he actually was. “It’s the safest place in the city according to every source. They would be too paranoid to have it in any less security after we got to them once. Especially now they know we’re out there, knowing most of their plans already.”

Minseok nodded, trusting his words and Jongdae hoped he hadn’t just fucked up. Now they just had to get into the building.

They peeked out the door to check if the coast was clear, then quickly scurried over to hide between two of the barracks a little closer to the castle. The darkness of the shadows where the light could no longer reach helped conceal them as they slowly made their way towards the castle, hiding in between the different buildings as they evaded the patrolling guards.

Jongdae was just crossing the street to reach Minseok when two guards suddenly rounded the corner and had it not been for Minseok harshly pulling him in behind the building, they would surely have been discovered.

Once they reached the castle, they circled around it, Jongdae going right and Minseok going left, to try and find a way in. The main entrance seemed to be the only way though and it was heavily guarded. There were no windows on the ground level, no other doors, the castle being like a fortress. The walls were too steep and smooth to climb, the windows on the higher levels probably locked anyway.

They circled around it three times and Jongdae was about to lose hope of finding a way in that didn’t mean they had to fight. He sighed and continued around to meet Minseok, but the other knight didn’t show up where they would usually pass each other. Worry filled Jongdae and he moved a little faster forward to see if Minseok was being held back by something. Or if he had been discovered.

Something in the darkness to his left near the castle moved and Jongdae froze, squinting to try and see what it was. Minseok was near invisible as he sat crouched in the shadow of the castle, waving Jongdae over frantically. Peeking out from where he was currently hiding to check there were no guards around, Jongdae quickly darted across the street and joined Minseok. 

   “Look here,” the Nymph whispered and it was only now it had been pointed out to him that Jongdae noticed a narrow opening in the wall just above the ground. It was barred with thick but rusted metal bars, no glass, and was probably some sort of air vent to the crypts. It was quite narrow but should be just about wide enough to squeeze through.

Minseok reached out and grabbed the bars and Jongdae could feel the temperature around them drop as the leader started freezing the bars. It took a while and Jongdae grew restless, checking around the corner to see if anyone was approaching. And just as he had feared, to guards rounded the corner of the street and started moving towards where they were hiding. Jongdae quickly pulled back out of sight and hissed quietly at Minseok to hurry up.

Finally, there was the sound of the bars shattering and the iron crumbled in Minseok’s hands. It hadn’t been loud but Jongdae was afraid they had been heard anyway.

   “I’ll go first,” Minseok said, crouching down to peek in. It was completely dark in the room so hopefully it meant that there was no one in there. They had no idea what was in there, but they had no choice right now with the sounds of boots coming closer. Minseok squeezed through the opening and Jongdae could hear him land. A couple of seconds later a whispered ‘clear’ came from the Nymph, and Jongdae quickly moved to follow him.

It was a very tight squeeze but Jongdae managed to get through and hoisted himself down until he was hanging onto the ledge but his feet weren’t touching the ground. It was a bigger drop than he had expected.

   “It’s not that far,” Minseok reassured him and Jongdae let himself fall, his stomach lurching in the two seconds he was in free fall before he landed on the ground.

They stayed silent as they listened to the guards outside pass where they had broken the bars. Once the footsteps faded, they looked around the room. A small strip of light from under the door on the other end of the room was the only source of light, so their visibility was limited but it appeared they had dropped into another storage room. Boxes were stacked high around them, the air smelling of mould and dust. 

As they moved towards the door, Jongdae noticed that Minseok was limping slightly on his right leg and he stopped. “You’re hurt?”

   “I’m fine,” Minseok said stubbornly, glaring at Jongdae. “I landed a little weird, but I can walk it off. Nothing to worry about.”

Jongdae wanted to protest but knew the knight was too proud and stubborn to admit defeat, and they had to keep moving so he let it go. He trusted that the leader knew his limits. Minseok wouldn’t put the mission in danger if he knew he couldn’t handle it.

They crouched to peek out under the gap in the door and found a long hallway with several doors on each side. The place was probably a maze much like the Government building in Dorwall. At the far end, the corridor ended in a sharp turn to the left. Two guards stood in the middle of the hall, guarding a stairway leading up into the castle. There was no way past the guards without getting discovered but they had to get to the other end of the crypt. Jongdae was sure they went a lot further down so there had to be some stairs leading into the lower floors somewhere.

   “We have to knock them out somehow,” Minseok sighed, thinking the same as Jongdae. “We’ll have to do it without alerting the rest of the castle. We could…” he thought for a while. “We could do it in here?”

Jongdae nodded, immediately knowing what Minseok was thinking. He moved to hide behind the door so that he would be concealed when it was opened, and Minseok hid behind some boxes. There were a small tapping and Jongdae tapped back to let Minseok know he was ready. Not a second later there was a loud crash as the leader knocked something over, followed by the sounds of footsteps as the guards came to check it out.

The door opened and the two guards stepped into the dark room but before they had gotten more than a couple of steps in, Jongdae quickly reached out and grabbed onto their shoulders, sending out a shockwave powerful enough to knock them out cold. Both of the guards sank to the floor with muffled groans of surprise, not even knowing what had hit them.

Minseok came out from his hiding place holding a coil of rope. “Thought this would be useful,” he grinned.

They helped each other drag the guards further into the room in behind some boxes, tying them up with the rope Minseok had found to make sure they stayed put should they wake up.

After checking the coast was clear, the two snuck out of the room and down the corridor. It turned out Jongdae’s hunch had been right, the building was a complete maze of crypts and endless dimly lit corridors. This time they had no Junmyeon to show them the way, so it was trial and error as they made their way through the castle. Guards patrolled the corridors in pairs but were usually loud enough for Minseok and Jongdae to hear them coming and give them a chance to duck into hiding.

It took them a long time getting through the corridors, having to move around slowly so they wouldn’t be discovered, also having to backtrack every time they reached a dead end, but eventually, the corridor opened up and they found themselves facing a steep, stone stairway leading further underground.

They glanced at each other. Going down the stairs would leave them vulnerable but they had no choice so they needed to be ready for anything. They pressed themselves against the wall and, with nearly inaudible steps, made their way down. It went on for longer than Jongdae had thought and he wondered just how deep below ground they actually were.

When they reached the end, they were face to face with a huge, heavy-looking wooden door. It would surely make some noise to open it but again, they had no choice. They would have to take the risk. Minseok moved to open the door, gesturing for Jongdae to get ready in case something happened.

He opened the door, the loud creaking echoing up through the stairway and sending shivers up Jongdae’s spine. The corridor on the other side was quite short and had fewer torches than the one they had just come from. As they stepped into the corridor, a door on their left opened up and two guards came out.


	21. Lightning cracks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This will contain some violence, if you're concerned about anything let me know and we'll figure it out ^^
> 
> A bit of a short one this time, but as usual I hope you like it! xx 
> 
> ~ M

**Chapter XX**

_**Lightning cracks** _

 

 

The four stared at each other for a second, not having expected anyone. Minseok was the first to move, grabbing the nearest torch off the wall and slamming it down on the guard standing closest to him. Jongdae snapped out of it and quickly grabbed into the other guard, sending him to the floor in spasms. They pulled the guards back into the room they had come from, some sort of break room apparently where the guards stayed when on duty in the crypts.

On their way out, Jongdae noticed a bundle of keys hanging on the wall and he almost laughed. It felt way too easy. As they closed the door behind them, Jongdae locked it as well after finding the right key. The guards could probably break down the door but it would buy them some time to get away.

   “We should do something about that door as well,” Minseok said, pointing at the door leading to the stairs.

Jongdae tried all the keys but none worked on it. Instead, Minseok grabbed the torch he had knocked out the guard with and used it to block the door. Since the door opened outwards into the stairway corridor, he could put the torch through the handle out over the wall and prevent it from being pulled open. It wouldn’t hold forever but it would have to do.

Once done, they finally got a chance to really look around the corridor. Luckily it wasn’t that long, meaning fewer rooms to look through, about four or five on each side. This was the lowest part of Caelcar.

   “You take half, I take half?” Minseok suggested, grabbing a torch. Jongdae nodded and pulled off half of the keys from the bundle, handing them to Minseok. He grabbed a torch as well and walked over to the first door to try the keys.

Looking through the rooms, Jongdae got more and more frantic. The chambers hadn’t been touched in years and were covered in dust and cobwebs, filled with old books and useless artifacts Jongdae couldn’t understand why needed such protection. Had they been wrong after all? Was it not here?

Guilt crept up over him. Had he put Minseok in danger for nothing? What if everything was actually back in Dorwall after all and the President had just happened to have been on an annual visit? He and Junmyeon had both believed this was the place but could they have been wrong?

   “Jongdae!” Minseok suddenly whispered excitedly from the doorway, startling Jongdae and making him jump. “I found it!”

Jongdae could have cried in relief as Minseok showed him the room. This was it. The room was completely dust free, new candles ready to be lit lining the walls. And in the middle of the room was a large table with the map of Elyxion on it. On the map were clear markings of the camp they had seen in Doreth, as well as what looked like another camp in the north of Paneia not far from the Great Wall. It would give them the advantage of attacking from two fronts.

There were stacks and stacks of documents on every surface of the room and the two boys immediately got to reading through them, reading out loud once they found something interesting.

They learned much of what they already knew, but the more they read, the more answers they got. The Humans had been recruiting magi for years to fight for their cause, first the willing – then the unwilling. That was when magi had started to disappear. As the remaining magi in the kingdom realized they were in danger, they went into hiding and stopped using magic freely. The Human Government wanted them all though – which was why they stole the Elven gem. They had heard of its gift of revealing magic and wanted to use it to catch anyone hiding their magic from them. With spies all over the kingdom, they lured anyone suspected of magic to the capital with the promise of something they knew would get them there. Did it not work, they sent someone to retrieve them. Then they were forced to touch the gem. Were they magi, they were immediately neutralized and transported to one of the camps. Were they not, the Government made sure that they could tell no one.

One of the first magi to join the cause was a woman who had already been working for the Government. Her magic was mind control and hypnosis, the perfect magic for the Government to get what they wanted. With her, they had the power to erase the minds of anyone who got in their way and they had the power to brainwash the magi they kidnapped. All she had to do was touch them and they were under her control.

By now, they had an army.

First, it was kept in their own kingdom but then it was expanded to Doreth after the Humans had made a deal with the Trolls. Which meant the Humans had an army of both magi and Trolls.

The two boys found nothing of when the Humans planned to attack, but by the looks of it all, it was scarily close.

Jongdae had no idea how many knights there were in the Onyx Lei order, but he hoped they would be enough.

   “We have to get to Inaenamelle,” Minseok said. “Otherwise innocent people could be killed because they’ve been brainwashed. If we can get to that mind controller, we could stop this before it even starts! Look around, see if you can find anything about where she is.”

They continued their search through the mountains of documents when there was suddenly a loud bang followed by another. Someone was yelling. Jongdae and Minseok looked at each other. The guards had woken up and were trying to break down the door. The loud pounding echoed through the crypts, no doubts travelling up the stairs alerting everyone that something wasn’t right. They had to leave, now.

Minseok grabbed a couple of candles from the wall and dropped them on the table, Jongdae watching with wide eyes as everything slowly got eaten by the fire.

   “Come on!” Minseok urged, Jongdae getting distracted for a second by the flames casting eerie but beautiful shadows over the Nymph’s face. Minseok snapped him out of it by grabbing his arm and literally dragging him out of the room.

The guards were screaming bloody murder as they passed them, cursing loudly at the two boys. Minseok pulled the torch from the door to the stairway and they pounded up the stairs, hoping to make it out before they got caught.

As they ran, Jongdae noticed that Minseok was falling a little behind because of his ankle. It had been more severe than he thought but Jongdae knew the leader was far too proud to admit that he was hurt. But he had to trust that Minseok could handle it.

Surprisingly they made it almost all the way out of the crypt and Jongdae felt a small flicker of hope. Then they came to a screeching halt as a wall of soldiers waited for them by the exit, having clearly been expecting them.

Not missing a beat Minseok did his usual trick and froze most of their feet to the ground and Jongdae nearly laughed at how easy it was as he followed it up with his lightning bolt, clearing the exit easily.

They ran up into the courtyard outside the castle and suddenly found themselves surrounded by dozens of soldiers lines up, looking a lot more intimidating in the dim torchlight.

Jongdae, still riding the high of their earlier victory, felt sure they could get through these soldiers as well and did manage to send a couple of them to the ground when something swiped him harshly across his back, sending him to his knees with a groan of pain. Before he could react, something wrapped around his ankle and dragged him to the ground. Coughing from the impact, his back stinging like hell, he looked down and saw a vine wrapped around his lower leg.

Beside him, Minseok yelped and Jongdae looked over to find him holding up a wall of ice against an intense blast of fire. Jongdae’s heart sank. Of course, it had been too easy, he should have known the Humans would be more prepared – they had magi.

The grip on his leg tightened and he shrieked as he was dragged backwards. Shooting lightning blindly at his feet to try and free himself he managed to hit the vine and he quickly got up.

His eyes landed on two girls standing at the far end of the courtyard, both lit up clearly by the fire one of them kept throwing at Minseok. The other was glaring straight at Jongdae and as she raised her hand, Jongdae was whipped across his back again, pain exploding through his body as he staggered forward.

He shot a bolt of lightning at her, but she blocked it by growing a tree straight out of the ground that splintered on impact. To try and get some time to think, he kept shooting at her, forcing her to keep blocking. The soldiers around them were coming closer, swords pointed right at them and Minseok was struggling against the fire. Every bit of ice he conjured was melted instantly. He had no chance from this distance.

A grip around Jongdae’s ankle again threw him off for a second and he struggled to stay upright as the vine wrapped around his legs tightly, quickly moving up his body like a snake. It squeezed tightly around his chest and he felt panic crawling up his throat as he fought to breathe. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. He had to get free before his life was squeezed out of him. But he couldn’t focus, the tightening of the vine had him claustrophobic.

Lightning built up inside of him along with his panic until it almost hurt. He gasped in pain and it was like a small explosion. The vines around him crumbled to his feet and the soldiers standing closest to him dropped to the ground.

Panicked, Jongdae swirled around to check on Minseok, fearing he had hurt him as well, but the leader was somehow unaffected.

The plant magi recovered quickly from the shock and Jongdae only narrowly managed to dodge a vine swiping for his face. He and Minseok were pushed backwards by the magi, closer to the soldiers’ awaiting swords.

Vines kept coming at him and Jongdae could only deflect so many, feeling the stinging swipes across his body when he missed one. He could feel his clothes tear and what he was sure was blood running down his back and arms. Minseok was losing power beside him, sweating from exhaustion from the continuous onslaught of fire. They wouldn’t be able to hold for much longer. They had to get out.

The two magi girls had moved closer so Jongdae took a risk. Trying to copy what he had done earlier, he called every bit of magic in him forward and then discharged it from his body in a shockwave of lightning. It forced the girls to stop their attack and put of defences instead, giving Minseok the opportunity to freeze them to the ground though it wouldn’t hold them for long.

   “Jongdae!” Minseok was panting as he turned to the Human. “You have to go. Tell the others what we found, they need to know.”

   “No way, I’m not leaving you here!” Jongdae disagreed in complete disbelief.

   “That is an order from your leader, Jongdae!” Minseok snapped. “I’ll only hold us back. Now _go_!”

A blast of fire shot past them, narrowly missing their heads. The two magi were struggling to free themselves from the ice while also trying to stop Minseok and Jongdae from running.

Another vine tried wrapping around Jongdae but he easily burnt it off and turned to run. The guards he hadn’t hit with his shockwaves wavered in fear as he turned his attention to them, some even moving out of the way. A vine whipped across his back again, Jongdae’s knees buckling underneath him for a second. He hesitated.

   “For fuck's sake Jongdae, _GO!”_

Heart hurting, Jongdae raised his hand to get rid of the guards still in his way but instead of shooting outwards the lightning wrapped around his body like a second skin. He looked down himself stunned, that had never happened before.

A soldier got brave enough to try and charge at him, sword raised only to be thrown back several meters as the sword came in contact with the lightning. Jongdae could feel vines hitting him and bouncing off without making any damage. But he could also feel his energy draining out of him rapidly.

He looked back at Minseok who was once against struggling against the fire magi. He wouldn’t have the time to go and get him before he ran out of energy. This was his only chance to get out.

So, with gritted teeth and tears welling up, he ran.


	22. Burn it down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This will contain some violence and non-important character death, if you’re concerned about anything let me know and we’ll figure it out ^^
> 
> Damn M, back at it again with those cliffhangers (I'm so sorry you guys (no I'm not really xD)). As always, I hope you like it ^^
> 
> ~ M

**Chapter XXI**

_**Burn it down** _

 

He kept running until he physically couldn’t anymore, his body collapsing somewhere in the plantation near Caelcar. His body was screaming in pain and it felt like his lungs were burning as he fought for breath. Surrounded completely by darkness he allowed himself to take a few seconds to let his body relax.

But he hadn’t laid there long before he could hear sounds of horse galloping and people yelling. They were out looking for him and though it was dark, they would no doubt find him if he didn’t move.

Fighting back a groan of pain, he staggered to his feet. He had no strength left to run, so he had to hide. But where should he go, there were no places to hide in a plantation. Did he not hide, they would run right into him.

Feeling slightly panicked as the soldiers came closer, Jongdae looked around for anything that could hide him but there was nothing but pine trees and the soft needles covering the ground. But… he looked up. The pine trees were quite dense and, in the darkness, it was impossible to see anything but a dark mass. If he could get up into a tree, he could possibly hide from them.

Choosing a tree with lower hanging branches, Jongdae used the last bit of his strength and hauled himself up, beginning to climb. It hurt a lot, the wounds on his arms and back being stretched painfully, needles poking uncomfortably at his skin. But he could deal with that once he was safe.

Once he was as far as he could go without the branches breaking, he sat and leaned against the trunk. He was panting loudly so he pulled his shirt up over his mouth to try and muffle the sound.

The Humans were getting closer and Jongdae prayed they wouldn’t realize he had hidden in the trees. He couldn’t fight anyone in this state. He slumped back and closed his eyes, white explosions of pain lighting up the insides of his eyelids.

The sounds of yelling came closer and closer and Jongdae froze. The Humans passed underneath him and he held his breath, biting his shirt to stop any noises. Not even stopping, they moved on and the sounds gradually faded away as they went further into the plantation. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Hopefully, they thought he was actually going to leave Minseok behind and escape the kingdom.

And he knew that it was what he was supposed to be doing – it was what Minseok had ordered him to do. But there was no way in hell he was leaving the Nymph behind. He hadn’t been strong enough to get him out before, but no one was going to stop him from trying again.

Now the Humans thought he had left, he had the upper hand. They wouldn’t expect for him to come back. He was wounded and exhausted and they knew that as well so they wouldn’t think he was stupid enough to come back. He was going to prove them wrong. He wasn’t stupid though, he knew that he didn’t have much strength left so it had to be quick. If he could take them by surprise, it might just work. It was a huge risk though, if he ended up exhausting his magic before getting them out, they would both die. And no one would know of the Humans’ true power until it was too late.

But it was a risk he was willing to take.

Once he was sure there weren’t any guards lingering nearby, he dared to move. He slowly pulled off his cloak, wincing as it caught in the wounds on his back. The cloak was torn and a little wet in some places and Jongdae tried not to think about it being his blood as he tore it into long strips. He then carefully took off his shirt as well and inspected the deepest cut on his arm as well as he could without any light. It didn’t feel too deep luckily and it had mostly stopped bleeding already, but it would need tending to so it wouldn’t get infected.

He then carefully wrapped some of the strips around his chest and back to hopefully help stop the cuts on his back from bleeding. It was quite sloppy and it hurt like hell putting any pressure on the wounds, but it had to be done. Once his chest was wrapped in the cloak, he put his torn shirt back on.

Slumping back against the tree again, he revelled in how his breathing was slowing to a point where he no longer felt like he was being strangled. His body felt numb with pinpricks all over but he knew he would have to get moving soon. Who knew what they were doing to Minseok? The more time he spent sitting in the tree was time Minseok could get hurt. But if he went too soon, Jongdae wouldn’t have the strength to save the Nymph.

How long could he afford to wait?

The waiting and uncertainty were killing him and he couldn’t sit still for long before he forced himself to move. He slowly crawled back down the tree, stopping to listen for any unusual noises every few moments. As he reached the ground and looked around, he suddenly realized he had no idea which direction to go. Everything had been turned around as he ran and he didn’t know where he had come from.

How could he have gotten himself fucking lost? He walked around the tree to see if there was anything he could recognize, having nothing but the pale light of the moon helping him. His feet stumbled over something and he looked down, noticing how the horses had left deep tracks in the layer of pines on the ground. They would lead him right back to Caelcar.

He followed the tracks back as fast as he could, stumbling across the ground as he fumbled in the darkness.

Apparently, he hadn’t made it as far into the plantation as he thought as it didn’t take him long to reach the end and was once again facing the walls of Caelcar.

There was no way he could sneak in now they had heightened security and his body was already begging for him to sit down again, so it had to be quick and efficient. They would not see him coming. If he could catch them off guard he would have a few precious seconds to save Minseok, but it would take a lot of strength he wasn’t sure he had.

He closed his eyes and summoned the lightning, feeling it sizzle and spark beneath his skin. It had to be enough, he had to do this – Minseok depended on him. There was no room for error.

So, he straightened his back and marched straight for the gates, feeling the magic within him grow with every step. His heart was hammering in his chest and his blood pumping around his veins fast enough for him to feel almost faint. Small sparks crackled around him as the magic tried to escape his body.

He could faintly hear the guards yelling over the blood roaring in his ears as he reached the gate but he didn’t give them any time to get their defences up as he raised his hand and an enormous lightning bolt struck with a deafening crack, the city walls crumbling like they had been made of glass. The shockwave blew Jongdae’s hair back as he calmly continued walking towards the city, stepping over rubble and crumbled stone. Whatever guards had been by the gates were now buried beneath the debris.

As he stepped into the courtyard his eyes landed on Minseok immediately. The Nymph was suspended midair by the magi girl’s vines, an older looking man standing too close for comfort as if he had been questioning him. The two magi girls stood by the old man, the one with fire magic having stopped mid-movement, her fire-engulfed hands millimetres from Minseok. Everyone was frozen in shock, staring at Jongdae.

In the light of the torches, Jongdae could clearly see Minseok’s face, the Nymph looking back at him with wide eyes. His normally pale face was covered in soot, his clothes looking singed at the edges and Jongdae felt rage well up inside of him. They had been burning him for information.

Lightning crackled between his fingertips and this time he only had to blink for it to strike. It hit the two magi girls dead on, dirt from the ground sending up a dust cloud that covered the area. The vines dropped a clearly weak Minseok to the ground, the Nymph not even trying to get back up to his feet.

Jongdae stalked towards Minseok, striking anyone who dared to come near him. At this point he didn’t care who he hit or if he killed someone, he was getting Minseok out of there.

A bolt of lightning hit one of the warehouses and it burst into flames that lit up the entire courtyard in an almost haunting orange glow. The flames roared like thunder, resonating through Jongdae’s body.

The air around him felt alive, every hair on his body standing on end and every breath he took tasted metallic. He could no longer feel any pain, his body moving on pure instinct and magic. He reached Minseok, the two magic girls surprisingly on their feet and now standing in front of the old guy to protect him. They moved to stop him as he reached for Minseok, but he glared up at them and growled, “Try to stop me, I dare you.”

Looking at the chaos behind Jongdae, the crumbled wall, the burning buildings and the charred people, they wisely chose to step back in surrender and let Jongdae hoist Minseok up on his back. The Nymph smelled like smoke and burnt fabric, but his clothes were drenched so Jongdae hoped it meant is ice magic had been enough to protect him from the fire.

No one dared to try and stop him as he walked back over the courtyard towards the now obliterated gates, and Jongdae kept his head held high though he could feel exhaustion creeping in. He couldn’t show any signs of weakness or they would stop him.

Just before he left he turned and locked eyes with the man who had been interrogating Minseok. Jongdae didn’t know the man, had no idea who he was but rage was still swirling inside him. He couldn’t stop the lightning bolt that had the old man dropping to the ground, but he felt no remorse as he watched him spasm. He turned his attention to the two girls but stopped himself. They could be under mind control, so he couldn’t let himself hurt them.

He had made it a good way out of the city when the sound of warning bells broke through the silent night. Shit, they were coming after him anyway.

Making a quick decision, Jongdae turned around and moved away from the road, instead edging along the city walls towards the back of the city. It meant he was going further into the kingdom and further away from Eirior, but he hoped the Humans would assume he was going towards the Great Wall.

   “I told you to go,” Minseok suddenly spoke up, voice barely audible.

   “Yeah well, I don’t care,” Jongdae huffed, his body struggling with the extra weight. “I thought you’d know by now that I do what I want.”

Minseok mumbled something very faint but then went completely lax in Jongdae’s grip and Jongdae shook him carefully. “Minseok,” he urged. “Minseok. Shit, wake up! Hang in there!”

Loud yelling could suddenly be heard over the warning bells and Jongdae swore quietly. He didn’t have the strength to defend them now so they had to hide, but there was no way he was getting Minseok into a tree.

He reached the borders of the plantation just as soldiers became visible in the distance, their torches looking a lot like the floating will-o’-the-wisps of Aupherisea. They would catch up to Jongdae quickly if he continued this pace. He sped up as much as possible, stumbling his way through the darkness as he looked for somewhere to hide. Minseok groaned in pain and Jongdae felt hopeless. What should he do? Where could he go?

He came to a screeching halt as he suddenly found himself face to face with a small cottage. The lights were on and there was smoke rising from the chimney, so someone in there was awake having probably heard the warning bells.

Jongdae glanced back at Minseok. Should he risk it? Whoever lived there could end up turning them in, but it was also the best bet and the only chance they had. But… it was too great a risk, they would be trapped in the house should they decide to turn them in. He would have better chances of hiding out in the dark plantation.

The thundering sounds of hooves were coming closer and he hoisted Minseok up, quickly wanting to get away from the house knowing the soldiers would no doubt check there. A shadow passed by one of the windows and a second later the door was suddenly yanked open, startling Jongdae into nearly dropping Minseok. An old woman was staring at the two boys with wide eyes, their wounds clearly visible in the strip of light coming from the open door.

   “Please,” Jongdae chocked out, eyes welling up in desperation. He had no fight left in him. “Please.”

Without saying anything, the old woman opened the door wide and ushered them inside, nearly pushing them through the house and into her bedroom.

   “Stay here, be quiet,” she said with a kind smile and closed the door behind her.

Too exhausted to carry Minseok any longer, Jongdae carefully dropped the Nymph onto the bed. In the light, he could clearly see how his clothes had been burnt as well as being torn and bloody like Jongdae’s. From what he could see none of his injuries were too severe despite looking like it, the bleeding having mostly stopped but they still needed treatment. He felt too cold to touch.

The wounds on his own back were burning like they were actually on fire, having probably been rubbed raw from carrying Minseok, but he tuned it out the best he could. Right now, he didn’t have the time for pain.

A loud hammering in the front door of the house had Jongdae jumping startled and he tensed as he heard the old lady open.

   “Oh, thank god you’re here,” she cried and Jongdae’s heart stopped, blood running cold. “I was woken by the bells and went to get a drink to calm down when I saw two shadows pass by my house! They’re probably still out there right now. I was so scared they would try and break in and hurt me. Please go and find them, otherwise I won’t be able to sleep!”

Oh god. She actually protected them. Jongdae’s body sagged and he fell back into the bed, nearly crying with relief as he heard the door close again.

The bedroom door opened and the old lady came back in, smiling kindly at Jongdae. She was only as tall as Jongdae’s chest, was a bit on the plump side and had a warm smile that reminded Jongdae of his mum.

   “Thank you,” Jongdae’s voice shook from holding back tears. “Thank you. But… why?”

   “My husband was a magi as well.” She smiled sadly. “I won’t stand by and watch them hurt anymore.”

Jongdae nearly choked on his own tongue, tensing up again but the old lady just smiled reassuringly at him and he felt the last bit of fight rush out of his body. “You sparkled,” she explained. “Your magic was seeping out. You were glowing.”

Oh. Jongdae hadn’t even noticed his magic had been running wild. Had he continued into the plantation like that, the soldiers would have had no problems tracking him down with him glowing like a damn torch.

Minseok let out a whimper, bringing Jongdae out of his thoughts and the old woman straightened up. “Would you be a dear and get his clothes off? I’m no nurse but we have to clean his wounds so they don’t get infected. Yours as well.”

Nodding, Jongdae started carefully removing Minseok’s ruined clothes, wincing at the cuts and bruises being revealed. It reminded him of how they’d had to patch up Sehun while trying to escape Dorwall. It seemed someone always had to get hurt, but at least they were alive.

   “Jongdae?” Minseok mumbled, eyes fluttering open slightly. Jongdae abandoned the task of removing the Nymph’s shirt and grabbed his hand. “I’m here.”

   “Where-” Minseok’s voice cut off. “Where are we?”

   “We’re safe,” Jongdae said softly. “So you can relax.” The Nymph smiled tiredly, eyes closing and his breathing slowed as he fell asleep.

The old lady came back in and Jongdae realized he didn’t even know her name, but he didn’t get to ask as she immediately got to work on cleaning and wrapping up Minseok’s wounds. As Jongdae had thought, there weren’t any dangerously deep cuts or burns, but the Nymph had still lost a lot of blood.

Now that he was finally able to relax, complete exhaustion swept over Jongdae. His vision blurred and he stumbled backwards, catching himself on the wall with a thud. His head was spinning, his body slowly going numb.

At the noise the old lady looked up, quickly getting up to support Jongdae as he stumbled again. “Oh dear, you should sit down.”

He felt himself fall and everything went black.


	23. Out of time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I hope you guys'll like it ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter XXII**

_**Out of time** _

 

Jongdae woke up feeling like he had been run over by a horse. Every part of his body hurt even with the slightest movement. As he slowly came to, he realized he was lying on something very soft instead of his usual sleeping bag. He wasn’t wearing a shirt like he normally would to bed, but his chest was wrapped in something… bandages?

There was a movement to his left and he turned his head, eyes widening when he came face to face with a sleeping Minseok, the Nymph looking painfully young as he slept.

Everything came rushing back and Jongdae sat up abruptly, nearly crying out as pain shot down his back. He couldn’t hold back a pained groan and not many seconds later the door to the bedroom opened and the old lady came in.

   “You’re finally awake,” she smiled. “Good. I was getting worried. How are you feeling?”

   “It hurts,” Jongdae admitted, wincing slightly as he turned towards her. “But I feel a lot better. Thank you for everything.”

   “Don’t mention it,” she reassured kindly. “Breakfast is nearly ready. It’s already noon, but it’s never too late for breakfast. Come out whenever you’re ready. I’ve put some clothes beside the bed, they were my late husband’s so they’re probably a little big.”

   “I don’t mind, thank you so much.” Jongdae was still worried he was actually dreaming. It seemed too good to be real.

After she left, he slowly dragged himself out of bed, tearing up as he stretched the wounds on his back. She had left him a white shirt and some worn out pants and they were quite big, but also very comfortable. He looked around the room and suddenly wondered how the old lady had managed to get him onto the bed – he clearly remembered fainting on the floor, so she would’ve had to somehow have dragged him over and onto the bed. She was one strong old lady. 

He joined her in the kitchen, drawn by the wonderful smell of fried eggs. As they talked he finally got to know her name – Meira, and she told him that her husband had been a magi as well. He’d had earth powers much like Kyungsoo, but no one had known other than her. The two of them had been in charge of managing the plantations around Caelcar. Once magi started disappearing, her husband had left to help and then never came back. Later she had received a letter from someone who knew him, informing her that he had been killed trying to free some captured magi from a transport wagon. The governor of Caelcar had allowed Meira to stay in the house despite not working in the plantations anymore.

   “I’m not really into living in a city, so I just refused to move and they let me stay,” she finished. “They probably felt sorry for me, thinking I had no idea what happened to my husband. There was no way I was going to let them take my house away as well. But,” she smiled and stood up. “That’s enough of that old sob story. Let me check over your bandages now we have some proper light.”

She gestured for him to take off his shirt and then went to get the first aid kit as Jongdae slowly peeled off the fabric. He hissed, gritting his teeth as she took off the bandages to look at his wounds.

   “How does it look?” he asked.

   “It’s not that deep luckily,” she hummed thoughtfully, fingers carefully checking over the broken skin. “But it’s chafed quite a bit from carrying your friend. I’ll get some ointment that’ll help so it won’t get infected.”

Jongdae sat tight and waited as she into the kitchen to get the ointment. The cool air of the room felt nice on the wounds and he closed his eyes. A door opened behind him and a loud gasp made him turn around. Minseok was standing in the doorway, looking impossibly small in Meira’s husband’s clothes. His eyes were wide and his skin paler than usual.

   “You’re awake!” Jongdae felt so relieved seeing Minseok awake after having been so weak the night before.

Minseok ignored him as he slowly came closer, eyes fixed on Jongdae’s back. “Your back… but, you carried me?”

   “Oh.” Jongdae quickly turned all the way around so his back was no longer visible. “It looks worse than it is.” It was probably a lie as it felt really damn bad, but he didn’t want to worry Minseok even more.

Again, he was ignored, his words seemingly going right over Minseok’s head. The Nymph’s worried face suddenly morphed into anger and he stomped forward, stopping right in front of Jongdae. “What the fuck were you thinking? I told you to go and get the information to Inaenamelle, but you come right back. You risked too much, you stupid idiot! How hard is to just follow orders?! You’re such a fucking idiot.”

Stunned, Jongdae just sat and let Minseok yell at him, having no idea what to do with himself. The Nymph was right in his face as he continued to rant agitatedly when Jongdae noticed Minseok’s eyes were glistening, and the Human couldn’t help but smile softly.

   “What are you smiling about you fool?!” Minseok hissed, voice slightly wobbly. “You’ve gone and gotten yourself hurt unnecessarily, I can’t believe you’re so stupid!”

Chuckling, Jongdae rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, so don’t worry. And a thank you would be nice y’know.”

Minseok huffed angrily and glared at him but before he could continue yelling, Meira came back.

   “Oh, you’re finally awake as well,” she beamed. “I’m glad. There’s some food left in the kitchen if you’re hungry. I’ll check your wounds once you’re done.”

Though he looked a little confused, Minseok bowed politely then moved to the kitchen to get something to eat. He winced with almost every movement and still walked with a slight limp, Jongdae looking after him worriedly.

   “Don’t worry about him yelling at you, dear,” Meira said with a small laugh. “He’s probably just worried about you. It seems you’ve both been through quite a lot.”

   “I know,” Jongdae smiled, glancing at the door Minseok had gone through.

The Nymph came back just as Meira finished wrapping up Jongdae again, his cuts actually feeling a little better with the ointment. Minseok sat quietly as she checked over him as well, grimacing whenever she came near one of his wounds. He had a couple of cuts from the vines like Jongdae, but they weren’t as big, and he had some minor burns on his arms and legs. Meira wrapped his twisted ankle as well to give some support.

   “There, all done,” Meira smiled, patting Minseok’s cheek kindly. “Be careful until you’re healed, okay?”

   “Thank you so much, Meira,” Jongdae said gratefully. “You’ve been too kind.”

   “Don’t mention it, I’m only happy to help,” Meira smiled. “But… I’ve been dying to ask – what happened to you? Why are you here?”

The two boys looked at each other. Should they tell her? She had helped them a lot so far and could possibly have some useful information with living that close to Caelcar. So Minseok told her the short version of everything they knew, Meira having to sit down from the shock.  

   “That’s horrible,” she said, voice shaking slightly. “Do you have a plan to stop them?”

   “Not yet,” Minseok admitted. “But what we found in Caelcar will definitely help, so we’re gonna have to get to Inaenamelle as soon as possible. All the kingdom rulers are gathered there, I’m sure they can figure out what to do. You don’t happen to know the fastest way from here to the Great Wall?”

   “I see. You shouldn’t travel in your state though,” Meira protested weakly. “But I can see there is no stopping you. I would love to help you, but I’m afraid I don’t even have a horse. Oh, but I can give you food for the journey!”

She jumped up and quickly walked to the kitchen, leaving Minseok and Jongdae slightly startled. A little while later she came back carrying a satchel that looked stuffed to the brim with food and handed it to Minseok.

   “This is almost all I have, take it,” she insisted despite Minseok’s protests.

They both thanked her profusely for her help before leaving the safety of her cottage, once again finding themselves in the plantation. Though they were both hurting a lot, they moved quickly through the trees towards the Great Wall, following the directions Meira had shown them on a map.

It was pretty much a straight line back to the wall, mostly through plantations and only having to avoid a town or two. They were on constant alert, looking and listening for any signs of Human soldiers. A couple of patrols passed them, the two boys having to throw themselves to the ground to hide.

After hours of quite tense silence, Minseok finally spoke up. “You shouldn’t have come back,” he said quietly, not looking at Jongdae. “But… thank you. For not leaving me.”

Jongdae could see the Nymph’s ears were glowing red and he smiled. “You’re very welcome.”

Minseok was quiet for a little while until he fell back in step with Jongdae and he looked up at the Human with interest. “I had no idea you had that much control over your magic already,” he said clearly impressed. “What you did was quite amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

A little taken aback by the sudden praise, Jongdae felt his face get warm and he chuckled awkwardly. “I didn’t know either,to be honest, it all just kind of happened. I was just so… angry and well, I had to get you out. I’m not sure I can do it again honestly.”

Cocking his head, Minseok narrowed his eyes. “Well I really hope you can, we might need it soon.”

He was right. Any day now the war could break out and they would need all the power they could get. His lightning was a powerful offensive magic and if he could do what he did in Caelcar again, it would give him an advantage as he wouldn’t even have to get that close to the battlefield. Right now, though, they had to focus on getting to Inaenamelle.

⬣

When they finally reached the Great Wall, it was around evening by the looks of the sun. The closer they had gotten to the wall, the more patrols they had seen and it got more and more difficult to keep moving forward without being spotted. Their pace had gotten slower the longer they had walked because their bodies hurt but they both refused to waste time on taking breaks.

Now, staring at the wall, Jongdae realized they hadn’t thought about how they were going to get back over. The nearest gate was quite far away and most likely swarming with guards, and neither Jongdae nor Minseok were in any state to fight. They had to get over in another way something.

   “I… I may have an idea,” Minseok said as he picked up a branch. “But I’m not sure.” He walked over and stuck the branch on the wall, Jongdae looking on confused. What in the hell… Then Minseok froze the end of the branch to the stone so it was sticking out and stepped up on it, trying to see if it would hold. Jongdae understood immediately. He wanted to build a sort of stairway so they could climb the wall. Dangerous, but it could work.

   “It’ll take a while,” Minseok said. “But we’re gonna have to be quick before the ice melts.”

They got to work, looking around the plantation to collect the sturdiest looking branches they could find, piling them by the wall. A while and many splinters later, Minseok deemed they had enough and he got to work creating his makeshift stairway, Jongdae handing him the branches whenever he needed another.

   “Oi, what are you doing?”

A group of five plantation workers – woodcutters probably – walked out from between the trees. Jongdae was about to just strike them down with lightning but he stopped himself. These men weren’t soldiers, just normal hardworking men with families waiting for them at home. They had nothing to do with all of this. He couldn’t use magic on them, they were completely unarmed.

   “Nothing,” Jongdae quickly said, stepping in front of Minseok who was making his way up the wall. “Please, just pretend you haven’t seen us. We’re not looking for trouble.”

   “But that boy has magic!” a tall, burly man exclaimed, pointing at Minseok. Jongdae tensed and stepped even closer to Minseok.

   “He does,” he confirmed slowly. “Now please, just walk away. It’s the best option for all of us.”

The same man stepped forward, smirking. “I’ve heard the Government is looking for people like you. People with magic. I think they’d give a fine reward for bringing you in.”

   “Jongdae,” Minseok sounded worried. Jongdae kept his eyes on the woodcutters, “Keep working, Minseok. I got this.”

At least he hoped he did. He was a little bit worried. He hadn’t really learned that much about fighting hands-on, having only had a couple of short lessons with Yixing. He was still only learning the basics so five against him wasn’t ideal. It would be a lot easier to just use magic, but he was honestly a little scared to – what if he accidentally used too much power and killed someone? What he had done in Caelcar scared him a little. He couldn’t risk it. He just hoped what Yixing had taught him was enough.

   “Please,” he tried again. “Just let us go.”

   “Yeah, mate,” one of the other men said, eyeing the two boys worriedly. “They’ve got magic. We’ve got to chance.”

The burly man just grinned and crossed his arms cockily. “Well, they haven’t used it yet, have they? It won’t stop me from trying. I could use the money.”

He stomped forward and in a quick movement he had grabbed Jongdae by the collar of his shirt but Jongdae quickly twisted around and out of his grip. This man was two times Jongdae’s size. God, how was it Baekhyun managed to put down Chanyeol again? It was hard to think as Jongdae had to keep dodging the man grabbing for him.

One of the other men gathered some courage and stepped in to help his friend, latching onto Jongdae. A punch to the gut had Jongdae struggling to breathe as he wiggled in the grip. His back burned in pain as the man held onto him tightly to stop him from getting free.

Doing the only thing he could think of to get free, Jongdae stomped down hard on the man’s foot, jabbing his elbow back into his stomach. The man groaned in pain and let Jongdae go, stumbling a couple of steps back. Taking advantage of Jongdae being momentarily distracted, the burly man managed to get close enough to get a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder, ready to put him down, but in that second Jongdae remembered what he had to do.

Lighting fast, he grabbed onto the arm tightly and stepped back, throwing the man off balance. Then he twisted his body a little, bending over and just like that the man was rolling over his back like he weighed nothing, landing hard on the ground with a dull thud. The other four men stared at Jongdae with wide, slightly scared eyes.

   “Let us go before any of us get hurt,” Jongdae said, panting, his body feeling like jelly. Not having to be told twice, the woodcutters quickly retreated though they would no doubt be back with help.

   “Jongdae get up here,” Minseok called and Jongdae looked up, seeing Minseok had made it a good way up the wall. He crawled up slowly, worried that the branches might not hold. There was no safety net – if they fell, they died.

When he reached Minseok the Nymph looked down at him. “We’re gonna have to break off the ones we’ve already stepped on to continue on from here,” he said. “Hand me the next one please.”

So Jongdae broke off the branch just below him, having to struggle a bit to get it free from the ice, and handed it to Minseok who froze it to the wall and crawled up a little further. It was a very slow process, but there was no other way. Move, break off the branch, stick it on, move. Repeat. And the next time Jongdae accidentally looked down they were suddenly very high up. Feeling slightly nauseous, Jongdae quickly fixed his eyes back on Minseok working on securing the next branch.

They were near the top when they heard yelling and Jongdae looked down, heart skipping a terrified beat at how high they were. The woodcutters from before had indeed come back with some guards but the two boys were already too far up to be stopped now. All they could do was watch them escape.

Minseok hoisted himself up so he was sitting on the top of the wall, Jongdae following not long after. The view was incredible. On one side was the grey cities and straight lines of Paneia, and on the other side was the rolling hills and lush forest of Eirior. It was almost surreal how big the difference was on the two sides of just one wall. The wall was wide enough for Jongdae to be able to sit with his legs stretched out in front of him as him and Minseok caught their breath and took in the view.

Now. How did they get down?

Apparently, Minseok had already had a plan as he reached out over the wall and froze a narrow slide of ice down the side of the stone. “Jump,” he said, looking at Jongdae.

   “What the fuck, no,” Jongdae protested, heart hammering as he looked down the slide. It was steep and narrow and because it was ice, it was slippery as hell. He was absolutely sure it wasn’t safe.

   “Jongdae you just fought off two guys twice your size and scaled a wall on fucking sticks - _jump_!” Minseok ordered exasperatedly, pointing at the slide sternly. And so Jongdae did.

It was about as uncomfortable as when Sehun had jumped them over the wall, Jongdae feeling like he was going to throw up any time he accidentally looked out over the narrow slide. In only seconds he was back on the ground, Minseok joining him moments later. They hurried away into the nearby forest, knowing the Human soldiers were most likely on their way from the nearest gate. But they would never find them now.

Jongdae noticed that Minseok’s limp had gotten worse after having been on foot for so long. “Maybe we should slow down a little,” he suggested worried.

Minseok just glared at him. “We can rest when we’re in Inaenamelle.”

So Jongdae stayed quiet though he was worried, not wanting to annoy the leader any more. The Nymph limped and stumbled along stubbornly, Jongdae trailing a step or two behind in case he needed to help in any way.

It was like that for a good while until they were a safe distance from Paneia and Minseok stopped, telling Jongdae to wait until he figured out where they were. They had left their horses in a small village not far from the wall, so that was where they had to go first. How Minseok was able to orientate himself and figure out where they were and which direction they needed to go, Jongdae had absolutely no idea. Even with a map, Jongdae wasn’t that good at directions. He hoped he would learn it someday.

Once Minseok figured out where to go, they continued their silent walking, Jongdae again half a step behind. The leader was quite annoyed, swearing under his breath when he stumbled or got swiped by a branch. It was obvious he didn’t like feeling weak, especially in front of someone else.

To fill out the time, Jongdae pulled out some bread Meira had given them and shared it with Minseok, who accepted it quietly.

Jongdae hummed to himself, not at all bothered by Minseok’s silence. The leader would come around eventually. He held back a chuckle as the Nymph stumbled again but quickly swallowed back the laugh as Minseok lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thud. He let out a small whimper of pain as Jongdae crouched beside him, and he was clutching his ankle. Jongdae carefully helped him up and Minseok immediately tried to take another step only to nearly fall on his face again, Jongdae managing to catch him.

Sighing fondly at the pout on Minseok’s face, Jongdae rolled his eyes and turned his back to him. “Get on,” he said though knowing his back would have to suffer. But Minseok couldn’t walk on a twisted ankle and a little bit of back pain wouldn’t kill Jongdae, so this was the fastest way.

   “What? No! You’re still hurt and I can walk just fi-“ Minseok protested but Jongdae cut him off. “Minseok, get on.” 

The Nymph sighed in defeat and carefully crawled up on Jongdae’s back, holding on tightly with arms and legs. It did hurt. Quite a lot actually, but they shouldn’t be too far from the village by now so Jongdae could bear it. He gritted his teeth and started walking.

The forest was getting darker as the sun set on the horizon, the two boys silent as they walked. Only a couple of meters later the forest came to a sudden end and Jongdae found himself walking through knee-length grass as forest turned to meadow. The long grass tickled at Jongdae’s legs as he slowly moved forward, careful not to trip over a clump or something hiding in the grass.

   “I’m sorry,” Minseok mumbled, mouth right by Jongdae’s ear. He squeezed his arms gently around Jongdae’s shoulders in apology. “I know you’re just trying to help.”

   “I know,” Jongdae chuckled. “It’s okay.”

   “You’re so fucking nice,” Minseok huffed, breath tickling Jongdae’s skin and the Human laughed.

   “Why thank you.”

Minseok was quiet for a while. “Does it hurt?” he asked quietly.

   “It’s not that bad,” Jongdae reassured him. Another lie. But instead of a stinging pain, it was more a dull ache that was easier to ignore.

The sun had now disappeared below the tree line in the distance, leaving twilight in its wake. The air around them was pleasantly cool, a gentle breeze caressing Jongdae’s hair. There was a small glimmer of light to his right, but when he looked it was gone and he shrugged it off. But then it happened again. And then a small, glowing orb floated right past him. He blinked. What was that?

   “Oh,” Minseok breathed happily. “Fireflies.”

Suddenly they were surrounded by hundreds of small, twinkling orbs dancing across the meadow. Jongdae looked around in amazement, it was beautiful. As Jongdae walked and disturbed the grass, small bursts of fireflies erupted in front of him. The glittering lights were actually quite soothing, Minseok with his arms wrapped loosely around Jongdae’s neck a calming weight on his back, and Jongdae nearly forgot about the pain. The Nymph wasn’t actually that heavy.

   “Can I ask you something?” Minseok asked out of the blue.

   “Sure?” Jongdae said confused.

   “Why are you doing all of this? Why are you helping us? You could have left them outside of your capital, or let them travel back alone. But you’ve done so much, why?”

The question was probably the last Jongdae had expected. He hummed as he took some time to think. “Ah, I don’t really know? Life was pretty boring so when they showed up it was a chance to do something exciting, I guess? Then we found out about the war and… well, I was already in too deep. I couldn’t not do anything.”

   “Oh,” was all Minseok said, Jongdae not able to identify the tone of his voice.

   “What’s your problem with Humans anyway?” Jongdae asked, glancing back as the leader.

 The Nymph was silent and for a moment Jongdae thought he wasn’t going to say anything when he spoke up. “I’ve never actually met one before you,” he admitted, sounding a little embarrassed. “But I’ve heard all of these stories about how Humans destroyed every bit of nature they came across, and how heartless and soulless they were. I guess I just… started thinking that way myself.”

   “Well, you’re not wrong. But you’re not right either,” Jongdae mused. “I mean. Of course, there are terrible Humans and we’re… ah, a serious bunch if you will. A bit too boring sometimes for my liking. But that doesn’t mean we can’t care about each other. We just don’t show it much.”

Again, Minseok was quiet for a while as he thought about what Jongdae said. “I know that now,” he eventually mumbled. “I’m sorry.”

   “No worries,” Jongdae said cheerfully, a little overwhelmed with all the apologies. “You couldn’t have known.”

There was a beat of silence then Minseok snorted out a laugh. “You’re not all that bad I guess.”

   “Oi, I could drop you,” Jongdae threatened jokingly, Minseok only bursting out laughing, Jongdae following right after.

The fireflies around them seemed to get agitated by the noise and all fluttered up, lights twinkling brightly. It was like the stars had fallen from the sky and settled over the meadow. Jongdae looked back over his shoulder at the laughing Minseok, the bright lights reflecting in his eyes.

They grinned stupidly at each other when another, stronger light started flashing out of the corner of Jongdae’s eye and he looked down at Minseok’s glove resting over his chest. The gem was flashing. He looked back up at Minseok in confusion, heart dropping when he saw the expression on the Nymph’s face. He was deathly pale, eyes wide and scared.

   “What does that mean?” Jongdae asked, dreading the answer.

   “That we’ve run out of time,” Minseok said, voice breaking.


	24. The last stand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a short one this time, sorry about that. But as always, I hope you guys like it ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter XXIII**

_**The last stand** _

 

 

Inaenamelle came into view and the two boys urged their horses to run faster. The city towered up over them, but the streets were eerily empty of any signs of life. Everyone had probably been evacuated already.

The sounds of hooves on cobblestones echoed hauntingly through the empty streets as they headed towards the castle. It had taken them two days to reach the city, they were already out of time.

Minseok’s gem flashing had been an S.O.S from the Supreme Leader of the Onyx Lei order – a message to tell the knights to gather. All gems the Onyx Lei knights wore came from the same cave, and by using something called a Heart Stone the Supreme Leader was able to call the knights when needed. It was only to be used in rare emergencies which could only mean one thing – the war had started.

Despite wanting to go to the borders of Doreth to help their friends, Jongdae and Minseok knew they still needed to pass on the information. Lives had no doubt already been lost, but hopefully, they could still save some.

A servant was somehow waiting in the hall as they entered through the huge doors, and they were led further into the castle than they had been the last time. They passed the throne room and entered a large room where all the rulers were still gathered. The Ten Council Faeries, the Nymph Queen and the Elven King and Queen, as well as a woman with long royal blue hair and striking yellow eyes wearing an Onyx Lei uniform. Her emblem was the same as Minseok’s only there was a crown instead of a star.

Everyone looked up as the door was opened and Jongdae and Minseok entered, having obviously been in the middle of a discussion. The two boys bowed lowly.

   “I hope you bring useful news since you disturb us like this,” the Nymph Queen said, folding her hands in front of her. “Because I fear you have come far too late.”

Jongdae and Minseok shared a look, both unnerved at having the realms’ most powerful people staring at you. Minseok’s voice was surprisingly steady as he spoke despite the Nymph looking nervous. Jongdae could feel him trembling slightly. For a second Jongdae’s hand twitched, wanting to reach out and comfort the other boy but he stopped himself, remembering where they were.

   “Mind control…” the Elven King said after Minseok had explained it all. “I see. But like Her Majesty said, this could be coming too late. The Humans attacked from both fronts two days ago. Because we learned of the camp in Doreth just in time, we managed to get a large number of our soldiers to the borders to prevent the Human army from spreading too far. But the second camp came as a surprise and we took too long to reach them. The Humans have already reached Miriliveth. Many lives have already been lost, and I will not sacrifice the safety of my people to try and spare some Humans. Even if we try to spare their lives, they will not spare ours. Mind control or not, we cannot put up the white flag.”

Everyone in the room nodded, agreeing and though Jongdae felt a little hopeless at the thought of that many lives getting lost, he could see where they were coming from. This was a war no one could win.

   “If you want to find this mind controller, you’re on your own,” the Elven King said, looking tired and years older than when Jongdae had last seen him only weeks ago. “We cannot spare any time or recourses on a quest that could lead nowhere.”

The dismissal was clear as the King looked away from them, the discussion they had interrupted picking up once again and the two boys quickly excused themselves. As the door closed behind them, they looked at each other and Jongdae nodded. Somehow, they were going to find that mind controller. How or where… they would have to figure that out.

They were being shown out by the same servant when there was a sudden voice yelling out, “hyung!” behind them and a silver-haired blur barreled down the hallway and right into Minseok who nearly fell on his ass. Junmyeon and Chanyeol came walking at a much slower pace right behind him, Chanyeol latching onto Baekhyun and Minseok in a group hug.

Junmyeon’s eyes looked suspiciously shiny as he stopped in front of Jongdae. “It’s good to see you,” he said and pulled Jongdae into a tight hug.

   “You too.” Jongdae felt a little choked up, eyes stinging annoyingly. It had only been a little over a week, but it had felt like months since they last saw each other. While in Caelcar he had even for a brief moment feared that he would never see Junmyeon or the others again. The squad wasn’t complete, but it felt a lot better now there were more of them together.

Someone jumped on Jongdae, latching onto his back and the Human yelped in pain, nearly falling over from the sudden weight and the shock. Baekhyun immediately backed off, watching Jongdae with wide eyes. “You’re hurt?” he asked in a small voice.

   “It’s nothing bad,” he quickly said, ignoring Minseok’s scoff. It was hard to lie though, with wearing a shirt that was most likely stained with blood on his back from his wounds bleeding through the bandages. Baekhyun seemed to notice this and his eyes widened so Jongdae quickly gave him a hug to distract him, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

Chanyeol hugged him carefully like Jongdae would break if he squeezed too hard while Baekhyun moved over to fuss over Minseok, seemingly realizing the leader would most likely be hurt as well.

Though he looked worried as well, Junmyeon cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “So? Did you find anything?”

Again, they explained what they learned in Caelcar. “If we can find this person, it could stop the whole war,” Minseok finished.

   “But, where is this mind controller?” Chanyeol asked.

   “We don’t know,” Jongdae admitted and they all fell silent. They knew what they wanted to do but had no idea where to even start. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Without any leads they were hopeless. Jongdae felt powerless. Many people were dying at the hands of innocent Human magi and there they were, not knowing what to do.

   “We can’t stay here and do nothing,” Baekhyun eventually said. “I’ve heard they have the most troops stationed by Doreth. Could the mind controller be there?”

   “I mean, I don’t know how mind control works, but it would make sense being closest to the largest group of people under your control,” Chanyeol agreed. “No matter how it works, it cannot be easy using that much power. Distance probably only makes it harder. At least that’s what we know from our own magic. It takes a lot of power to keep it going for a long period of time. Let alone having to do it from a distance.”

Junmyeon hummed but did not look convinced. “Do we even know if finding this person will actually solve anything?” he asked, surprising them all. “It seems almost impossible for one person to do that kind of magic you’re talking about. What if they’re all brainwashed – mindless shells with no free will? It could be too late to save them.”

It felt like a stone hit the bottom of Jongdae’s stomach. He hadn’t even considered that option. But what Junmyeon said sounded plausible – and it meant the mind controller didn’t have to use so much magic. Mindless slaves were a lot easier to control. There was no guarantee that stopping the mind controller would stop the army.

The last spark of hope fizzled out as Junmyeon’s words sunk in and they fell quiet, not sure what to say or what to do now.

   “We won’t know unless we try,” Minseok eventually said determinedly. “But Junmyeon is right, we can’t risk everything based on a hunch like we have been so far. The risks are too high. I say we go to Doreth, they could use our help either way and should the mind controller be there as well, we’ll take her down. Otherwise, we still have one way to win – we fight.”

⬣

   “It looks quite horrible,” Junmyeon said behind Jongdae where he was currently wrapping the younger boy in fresh bandages. “What the hell happened to you?”

   “Plants,” Jongdae cursed, wincing as Jongdae tightened it just a bit too tight. Thought it hurt it felt nice to have been properly cleaned as well as getting his wounds lathered with some miracle ointment the Elves had given him, promising it would take away most of his pain. And while it had indeed taken some, it still hurt like hell.

It was quite embarrassing to have Junmyeon help him with a simple task such as cleaning his back and getting dressed properly.

Though he was probably confused, Junmyeon didn’t say anything else and instead helped Jongdae into his new tunic. His new clothes were a lot like the last ones the Elves had given him, only this tunic was a deep red. Junmyeon too had redressed, this time in green colours.

As he looked at the two of them in the mirror, standing side by side, he was suddenly hit with a feeling of everything seeming like a dream. It all just felt so surreal and he almost pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t actually dreaming – or having a nightmare – but the very real pain of his body was a harsh reminder. This was no dream.

   “You ready?” Junmyeon asked, meeting Jongdae’s eyes in the mirror.

Jongdae looked at himself. This was it. What everything had been leading up to. The final stand.

   “I am.”


	25. The war

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I otherwise won't be able to post until next week, you're getting this weeks update early! Hope you guys will like it! 
> 
> WARNING: There will be some violence and some non-important character death in this one

**Chapter XXIV**

_**The war** _

 

****

They could hear the battle before they could see it. People yelling, screaming, loud booms and flashes of magic shooting up in the distance.

Jongdae’s heart hammered in his chest as they crept up to the top of the hill, their horses left what would hopefully be a safe distance away. Once they reached the top they had a clear view of the battlefield laid out before them. The Human army had pressed the Sprites into a narrow passage between two steep hills. The Sprites were fighting to gain back some ground but were overwhelmed by the numbers and were being pressed further back into the kingdom.

If felt like he was free falling as Jongdae stared at the utter chaos below. It was impossible to find their friends in the mess of fighting people – you could spot an Onyx Lei uniform here and there but it was otherwise almost impossible to tell person from Troll.

The air felt thick with magic, so dense you could almost taste it – a constant buzz that flared up like a heartbeat whenever powerful magic was used. A thin veil of mist and smoke shimmered in the sunlight making everything look slightly blurred. Different types of magic crashed together with explosive forces, exploding and crackling like fireworks.

The urge to run away fought with the urge to dive in and help but Minseok grabbed onto his hand and squeezed, bringing Jongdae out of his thoughts.

   “We have to keep moving.”

Jongdae nodded, forcing himself to look away. They needed to get closer to the borders of Doreth where most of the Humans were still fighting to get into the Elven Kingdom. The knights there were getting overwhelmed by their numbers.

A sudden gust of howling wind nearly knocked them all off their feet and seconds after Chanyeol yelled out “Sehun” from behind Jongdae. As Jongdae turned around, the Elf was already barreling down the steep hillside towards the battle, Baekhyun following right on his heels. Junmyeon looked at Minseok and Jongdae for a second before following as well, but as Jongdae moved to do the same Minseok grabbed onto his hand to stop him.

   “Be careful,” the Nymph said, eyes pleading.

   “You too,” Jongdae said, squeezing his hand comfortingly.

Then it was total and utter chaos. There were people everywhere, Trolls everywhere. Flashes of magic constantly threatening to take him out. He couldn’t take a step without running into someone or having to dodge an attack. Anyone who got too close got zapped by his lightning and he prayed he was holding back enough to not actually kill anyone but it was so hard when the blood was pumping around his veins and his body feeling jittery with the need to keep moving. He tried using his lighting as a body shield again but it tired him out too fast to keep it up for long.

He lost all his friends in the chaos, unable to see where they disappeared off to and he felt slightly panicked as he realized he was on his own in all of this. His focus on not dying was the only thing keeping him from a complete breakdown.

Trolls were ugly creatures in all different kinds of shapes and sizes. They had grey warty skin, grimaced, disfigured faces, pointy teeth and smelled like garbage. Their skin was so thick it took a lot of lightning to do any damage at all and it was draining to put one down. They were slow though and not that bright, so Jongdae could easily dodge most of their blows.

Whenever magic met with violent forces, bursting outwards with destructive energies, the ground beneath Jongdae shook. With the mist and smoke covering everything, it felt disorientating having the ground knocked out from under your feet.

A person suddenly appeared by his side, a boy wearing an Onyx Lei uniform but with grey skin, and for a second Jongdae was confused until he realized he knew him.

   “Hyunwoo!” he greeted loudly, turning to help the other boy take down the Troll he was facing. It took a lot of heavy blows from Hyunwoo and a serious lightning bolt from Jongdae before they finally knocked it out.

Hyunwoo looked at him and smiled, recognizing Jongdae. “You guys made it!” he said relieved. “Good, we could use the help. And, thank you.”

A boulder thrown at his head forced Jongdae to spin around and dodge it, coming face to face with another Troll. Hyunwoo already had his hands full with some magi, him and Jongdae ending up standing back to back. They fought the best they could but were being pressed closer to the borders of Doreth, closer to the centre of the battlefield.

Around them, it was clear that the Onyx Lei was more skilled but the enemy had greater numbers. They were holding their grounds but only just. They needed something to tip the battle in their favour.

Ice cold air shot right past Jongdae’s ear and he turned to see a magi he hadn’t noticed sneaking up on him now frozen solid. He spun around again, heart skipping a beat of relief when coming face to face with Minseok. The Nymph was sweating and panting but looked otherwise unharmed.

   “Jongdae, look!” he urged before Jongdae could say anything and Jongdae looked to where he was pointing.

He could faintly see three figures standing on the hill, looking down on the battlefield. Though it was quite far away, Jongdae had no doubts. It was the President. The man had a very distinct overweight shape of a pear and was wearing his signature pinstriped suit.

But why was he so close to the battlefield? It didn’t seem safe, a very reckless decision but he must have been so sure that they were going to win the battle that he had come to witness his victory. A woman and a young man stood by his side – perhaps the mind controller?

A Troll swiped for Jongdae, forcing him to look away and dodge. “Cover me!” he said to Minseok and Hyunwoo who quickly got the Troll’s attention to get Jongdae a couple of moments.

He stood up, staring straight at the three figures and then he raised his hand, lighting striking right over their heads. But, much to Jongdae’s shock, instead of hitting them, the lighting just bounced off of what looked like a shimmering bubble. Of course it wouldn’t have been that easy, he had a magic shield with him. The President didn’t even move despite having nearly been struck directly and Jongdae almost laughed at his stupidity. His arrogance would be his downfall. He would not get away.

   “We have to get closer!” he shouted over the noise around them, Hyunwoo and Minseok both nodding. To help them move faster, Jongdae built up his lightning armour around him and they started fighting their way through the battlefield. It was a slow process, getting stopped by Trolls and Human magi every couple of steps they made.

One Troll nearly brained Jongdae with a wooden club but was stopped by a pillar of stone shooting up from the ground, audibly breaking some bones in the Troll’s head. Seconds later Kyungsoo was at their side, eyes wide and wild, a cut on his cheek and clothes torn. Hoseok was right behind him, looking just as roughed up, blood running down his right arm.

   “Nice to see a friendly face,” Hoseok said, voice breaking as he panted. “Has anybody else noticed that we’re kind of losing?”

   “We won’t be for much longer if we get closer to that man!” Minseok said, voice loud to be heard over a nearby Troll roaring loudly in pain. Neither Hoseok nor Kyungsoo needed any more explanation than that.

With now two extra added strengths they were able to move faster through the chaos and destruction around them. If the President had noticed they were coming for him, he wasn’t showing it and kept standing on the hilltop until they were almost directly below him.

   “We have to get rid of his shield somehow.” Jongdae pointed at the boy standing beside the President. “It has to be him.”

Hyunwoo and Hoseok covered their backs as the rest of them tried to come up with a way to get the President away from his shield. How could they do anything when they couldn’t touch either of them? They needed both the President and the mind controller alive as they were the only ones who could stop this war.

   “Step back,” Kyungsoo suddenly ordered, Minseok and Jongdae quickly doing as he asked. The Faery took a deep breath then stomped hard on the ground. A single crack appeared by his feet that then started growing, travelling up the hillside. The second the President noticed it, it was too late and the ground had swallowed up the boy beside him, closing the gaping hole like a predator that had just caught its prey.

In the next second Minseok had frozen the President and the woman to the ground. He and Jongdae made their way up the hill, stopping in front of the two trapped Humans. Kyungsoo stayed back to help cover their backs. They couldn’t afford any distractions.

   “Oh, it’s you,” The President sighed when they approached and the two boys glanced at each other confused. He knew them?

   “You’re too late, I’ve already won,” the President continued, a sleazy smile on his lips. “I suppose I should thank you boys though. Thanks to the two of you, we knew to move forward our plans and attack now the kingdoms were the most vulnerable. My army should be invading Inaenamelle as we speak.”

Jongdae’s blood ran cold, a ball of ice dropping in his stomach. He was so confused – what was he talking about? How had they helped him?

   “What you did in Caelcar was a setback, I admit, but it turned out in my favour. I have spies everywhere you see, and that poor old woman didn’t even realize that by helping you she was sealing the fate of Elyxion.”

Meira? But… how? It couldn’t be. She betrayed them?! But then again, he said she didn’t even know…

   “We took her husband away but decided to keep her for information, magi tend to flock together, you see. But she never did give us anything useful and we were thinking of eliminating her, but then the two of you stumbled right into her. I couldn’t believe my luck. We had actually postponed our attack after your little stunt in Dorwall to wait and see how the other kingdoms would react, but then you tell us they actually have no ways of stopping us yet. And with all their leaders gathered in one city, leaving their kingdoms vulnerable – it was too good to be true. Such a pity though, I decided to let you live to show mercy for your great help but here you are, causing trouble. I should have killed you when I had had the chance.”

The President looked over Jongdae’s shoulder and Jongdae realized he had been talking to stall them. He turned around just in time to dodge a sudden club swung at his head, a huge Troll towering over him. Another one was taking on Minseok. They must have made it past their friends somehow. Jongdae could hear ice being shattered behind him but he was too busy trying not to get clobbered to deal with it.

His first lightning bolt bounced right off the Troll’s thick skin and he had to drop to the ground and roll to dodge another swing of the club. He aimed another lightning bolt at its feet but the power was only enough to make it stumble.

In one last attempt to take it down, Jongdae dived in and grabbed onto the Troll’s leg, channelling all his magic down into his hands. Lightning crackled, the Troll spasmed and then went rigid, falling to the ground with a ground-shaking thump.

Beside him, Minseok was still struggling with his own enormous Troll, so Jongdae stumbled over to help, feeling a little woozy after using so much magic. Frozen half to death then shocked, and the second Troll went down as well.

When they looked up, the President and mind controller were making their escape, already having made it quite far, Minseok and Jongdae quickly moving to run after them. Without thinking too much about it, Jongdae reached out, the President dropping to the ground seconds later with the force of a lightning bolt. He shouldn’t be dead, but Jongdae honestly didn’t care at that moment. They had what they needed for now anyway. Meanwhile,Minseok got close enough to manage to freeze the lady from the neck and down so she wouldn’t be able to touch them.

The woman was pretty average looking up close; with long greying hair and a slim face. Despite not having run for that long, she looked completely exhausted. Dark bags under her eyes, face ashen and hair matted with sweat. Using powerful magic all the time was tiring her out.

   “Release them!” Minseok demanded. “Let go of their minds!”

She cackled loudly, sounding almost manic, and sneered at them. “It’s too late! They’re mine!” she hissed triumphantly.

Jongdae’s heart sank. Should they believe her? She could be trying to trick them, but there was a very real possibility that their minds were lost forever.

   “You’re still using your magic,” Minseok said, voice low and threatening. “Let them go!”

Another manic cackle sounding like a crow screeching and she spat at them. She bared her teeth like a rabid animal – she looked insane. Could magic drive someone mad?

   “It may be too late for most, but we can still save some, I’m sure of it,” Minseok said to Jongdae, looking suddenly torn. He hesitated before speaking up again. “If she won’t release their minds… there’s only one way.”

He didn’t have to say anything, but Jongdae understood. She needed to die. That way she would stop using her magic and hopefully release whatever hold she had on the minds of the Human magi. At least some of them, Jongdae hoped.

Careful not to touch her, Jongdae held out his hand but hesitated. It was the only way, but…

Minseok grabbed onto his other hand for support but looked away, eyes screwed shut. The Nymph squeezed his hand and Jongdae let the lightning bolt leave his body. She spasmed, eyes rolling to the back of her head and then she stilled completely, head lolling forward.

They held their breaths and it was like everything around them stopped to do the same. The deafening roar of war was exchanged for eerie silence. The two boys looked at each other then walked over to the hillside to look over the battlefield.

Total confusion – some Humans were stumbling about, disoriented and panicked at waking up in a war zone. Confused crying and yelling replaced the screams of battle. Other Humans stood completely still, gaze vacant as they stared at the horizon like they were still in a trance. Jongdae’s heart hurt for them – their minds were probably lost forever.

The last of the Trolls, now outnumbered, were being taken care of by the Onyx Lei knights who had quickly recovered from the confusion of the Humans waking up.

Jongdae almost felt nauseous looking at the scene in front of them. So many innocent lives lost, so many lived wasted because one man wanted more power. There was no point to it all.

Minseok tightened the grip he had on Jongdae’s hand, eyes dark as they looked out over the devastation.

   “Hyung!” a familiar voice called and their heads snapped up. Sehun came bolting at them, barreling right into their arms. He was shaking violently, hiding his face in Minseok’s chest as he clung to the two boys. Kyungsoo wasn’t far behind, looking calm but pale. He wordlessly sidled up close to them all, wrapping an arm around Sehun’s middle comfortingly.

   “Where are the others?” Minseok asked, voice shaking a little.

   “I don’t know, I lost them all before I met you,” Kyungsoo answered grimly, eyes scanning the battlefield for their friends. Seconds felt like hours, Jongdae’s heart feeling heavy with worry as they looked for any familiar faces in the chaos.

A loud pop right beside Jongdae startled them all and suddenly Jongdae had his arms full of a trembling Jongin. “Hyung,” the Nymph cried out, hugging Jongdae tightly. Then he noticed Kyungsoo and immediately latched onto the Faery instead.

Sehun had almost stopped shaking but refused to let go of Minseok, still also having a tight grip on Jongdae’s sleeve as if wanting to prevent them from leaving.

   “There!” Chanyeol’s red hair was all Jongdae managed to see before the giant Elf had pulled them all into a tight hug. Beside him Baekhyun’s pale face came into view, hair sticking up in every direction and a small cut bleeding on his cheek. The Nymph grinned widely at Jongdae but was unable to get to him at the moment as the Human was still being hugged by Chanyeol, who had now started sniffling, large tears rolling down his cheeks.

   “Don’t cry, Chanyeol-ah,” Yixing said softly, suddenly appearing behind Jongdae, only making the red-haired elf burst into ugly sobs, pulling the healer into a hug and finally letting Jongdae go.

Jongdae was so relieved to see them all, but they were still missing Junmyeon. He let the squad reunite in peace, smiling softly at seeing even Minseok trying to hold back tears. His heart was beating anxiously as he searched for any signs of Junmyeon.

He had to be okay. He was the brother Jongdae had always wished his actual older brother would be. They started this journey together, it couldn’t end now.

A figure emerged from the smoke of a burning Troll, hope welling up in Jongdae. Relief washed over him like a tidal wave and had he not been held back by Sehun still grabbing onto his arm, he would have run over. He was limping, clothes slightly torn in some places but he was okay. Junmyeon was okay. They had all made it out alive.

Yixing was the second to notice him and he beamed in relief. “Junmyeon.”

Hearing the Human’s name, Sehun looked up for the first time, face red and blotchy from crying. He sniffled as Junmyeon reached them, then latched on tightly to the older boy instead, Junmyeon laughing softly as he hugged the Faery.

Though he had just stopped crying, Chanyeol took one look at them all and promptly burst into tears again, Baekhyun laughing at his boyfriend though his own eyes were suspiciously shiny as well. The Elf demanded another group hug, pulling them all closer.

Jongdae was pressed closer to Minseok, who smiled softly at him and Jongdae felt warmth spread through his chest.

It wasn’t completely over yet. The affected kingdoms needed rebuilding, the wounded needed treatment, the dead deserved a proper burial – both Human and Sprite. The lost Human magi needed help. There was a lot of work to be done.

But for now, they could all take a moment to breathe. 


	26. New beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you guys, it's nearly over and I feel so weird posting these last couple of chapters... As always, I hope you like it! ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter XXV**

_**New beginnings** _

 

The campfire crackled loudly and something popped, bringing Jongdae out of his thoughts, his body involuntarily tensing up. He blinked and looked around, slowly relaxing as he took in the friendly faces around him, chatting and laughing calmly.

Right, it was over. They were all okay. They were all safe.

Baekhyun, Jongin, Sehun, Changkyun and Minhyuk were really invested in some game, loud yelling and happy laughter coming from them in bursts. Yixing, Hyungwon and Kyungsoo were in a deep discussion about something Jongdae couldn’t hear, while Chanyeol was animatedly telling some story about how he took down a troll to Junmyeon, Kihyun, Jooheon and Hoseok who looked on amused. Only Jooheon and Hoseok actually looked like they believed him. Hyunwoo was happily napping with his head in Minhyuk’s lap, apparently unbothered by all the wiggling around the Faery was doing.

The other squad had also made it out safely with only minor injuries Yixing could heal easily. The two squads had stuck together since as it gave them a feeling of safety.

Minseok was sitting quietly beside Jongdae, observing the knights with a small smile. He was so close that Jongdae could feel the warmth emitting from the Nymph. It was quite calming.

“It feels unreal,” Minseok suddenly said, voice quiet. “That it’s all over. It’s been a week but… it feels like it happened a lifetime ago, yet like it’s still happening. I want to relax, but…”

   “I get it,” Jongdae agreed, knowing exactly how Minseok was feeling. The war had been their main focus for so long now and now that it was over… it didn’t feel real. It almost felt like they were forgetting something, like they had missed something important. But they hadn’t.

The President had been taken into custody by the Elves and faced a lifetime in a cell. The Trolls had been chased back to Doreth. The Human magi that had woken from their trance had luckily not been held accountable for their actions, though they were all being questioned to determine whether they had actually been brainwashed, or had done it all of their own free wills. It was a long process but families were being reunited and Jongdae thought that made it all worth it. The ones who hadn’t woken up had been taken to a town in Eirior where a team of healers were working on restoring their minds.

It had only been a week but everything was slowly returning to normal.

Minseok let out a breath and stood up, smiling down at Jongdae. “How about we get dinner?” he said loudly to get everyone’s attention and his suggestion was met with cheers.

The Nymph held out his hands to help Jongdae up and they walked over to where they kept their provisions. They helped each other hand out the food to everyone and a pleasant silence fell over their camp as they all dug into the freshly baked bread and fruit cakes.

On his way back to get some food for himself, he suddenly bumped into Minseok who was coming around the other way and they both stumbled, grabbing onto each other to keep their balance. They looked at each other, faces so close Jongdae could feel Minseok’s breath on his lips and they chuckled awkwardly.

Instead of stepping back, Minseok smiled softly and they just looked at each other for a while, Jongdae’s heart fighting to beat out of his chest.

Jongdae wasn’t sure who leaned in first, but he wasn’t surprised when he felt Minseok’s lips meet his own.

It was nothing wild, just a simple light press of their lips, but it was enough to send warmth blooming through Jongdae’s body, lightning sparking in his gut and between his fingertips. Minseok’s lips were cold – because of course they were – but also soft, and he was surprisingly shy, letting Jongdae take the lead which he did happily.

It felt like it had been a long time coming without it ever feeling like the right time. But right here, right now, Jongdae finally let all the feelings go, blossoming into little sparks lighting up the insides of his eyelids.

A wolf whistle and loud whoops broke them apart, both blushing fiercely but beaming widely as they faced the other knights who had disturbed them. Jongdae had honestly forgotten they were even there.

   “About fucking time!” Baekhyun grinned, clapping Jongdae harshly on the back as him and Minseok said down by the fire again.

The two sat close together as they ate, giggling stupidly whenever their eyes met.

Jongdae couldn’t remember when the feelings had started, probably earlier than he realized. The will-o’-the-wisps must have known him better than he even did himself. But he didn’t care because it felt right. It felt right to reach out and grab Minseok’s hand, the Nymph giving him a happy, gummy smile in return with the light of the fire reflecting in his eyes. 

                           

Jongdae was woken the next morning by someone slapping the side of his and Junmyeon’s tent. The two Humans groggily got up and got dressed, going out to see what the commotion was. Most of the other knights had obviously been woken up as well, staring sleepily at each other. An owl looking at lot like their own was sitting on Minseok’s shoulder, the leader reading a small scroll.

Once they had all gathered, Minseok spoke up. “We’ve been summoned to the Onyx Lei headquarters,” he said, rolling up the scroll. “We knew the most about this war and they have a lot of questions for the trial of the Human President. We’re leaving after breakfast.”

Still drowsy, everyone went to get something to eat so they could get back on the road, but Jongdae hesitated, looking at Junmyeon. Minseok seemed to notice and walked over, face questioning.

   “What’s wrong?” he asked.

   “Well, we…” Jongdae started, looking at Junmyeon for help.

   “I mentioned to Jongdae that I wanted to go home and see my family,” Junmyeon supplied, placing a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder. “I have to see that they’re okay. And we’re not far from the borders of Paneia so…”

   “And you want to go with him...” Minseok said to Jongdae, deflating a little when Jongdae nodded.

He felt horrible about leaving the Nymph so suddenly and so soon after they had become something… more. But what Junmyeon had said really stuck with him. He needed to see his family. He had to know if they were okay – had to show them that he was okay. It was something he needed to do.

   “Okay,” Minseok said quietly, then squared up his shoulders and looked away from Jongdae. “Let’s start packing.”

Without looking at Jongdae, he turned and went to his tent. Jongdae felt terrible, wanting to run after the Nymph and apologize but he knew he needed to be alone for now.

A hand was placed on Jongdae’s shoulder and he looked to find Baekhyun smiling sadly at him. He must have heard.

   “Don’t worry, he’ll come around,” he said reassuringly. “He understands. They all will. We’ll miss you, but we understand. I’ll let the rest know if you want?”

Jongdae nodded gratefully and thanked the silver-haired Nymph. He wouldn’t be able to bear having to tell the others as well, so he would gladly let Baekhyun break the news. Junmyeon went with the Nymph, wanting to tell everyone himself.

Instead, Jongdae went and started packing, a heavy feeling in his stomach. He skipped breakfast, not feeling hungry at all

As both squads got ready to go, the mood around the camp was in high spirits but Jongdae couldn’t get into it. He could almost feel Minseok’s cold shoulder.

Once done, Junmyeon and Minseok said their goodbyes to everyone, receiving tight hugs all around. Jongin even teared up a little and Sehun clung stubbornly to Junmyeon, who was patting the Faery on the head, laughing. They received encouraging words from everyone – they all understood why the Humans had to do this.

Minseok was the last as he kept to the background and Jongdae hesitatingly walked over.

   “I’m sorry.”

   “Don’t be,” Minseok sighed dejectedly. “I get it. But… you’re coming back, right? To us...? To me?”

Jongdae smiled softly, taking both Minseok’s hands and pulling him closer. “Of course,” he promised, leaning in to kiss the Nymph gently. “I promise.”

                         

Going back home was weird. Paneia was crawling with foreign soldiers, and they had been able to pass the Great Wall just by flashing the royal Elven seal. Not much in the kingdom had been destroyed as the war had taken place outside of the Great Wall, but the impact of the war was still very visible. The towns and cities they passed, now no longer having to hide, were close to deserted and they met no one working in the fields or the plantations. Everything felt abandoned.

A temporary council of Elves had been chosen to help rule the kingdom and get it back on its feet after everything that had happened. Most of the old Government had been corrupt, so the Elves stayed until a new government had been chosen. That could take months.

Jongdae and Junmyeon parted ways not long after passing the Great Wall, Junmyeon’s family living in a small town northwest of Dorwall. They agreed to meet up back at the gates to Eirior in four days.

Riding up the familiar road through Dorwall to his house was almost surreal. It had only been about two months but it felt like years ago he had been running terrified for his life the other way along with the other knights. Seeing the roads again made him feel a mix of the safety of familiarity but also the unease of feeling out of place.

His dismounted Ráka and left her in the courtyard, inhaling the familiar soothing scent of bread and pastries. His hands were shaking for some reason as he walked up and knocked on the door to his own home.

It opened and Jongdae felt like crying seeing him mum right there. She had lost weight and had dark bags underneath her eyes and Jongdae felt his eyes well up with tears.

She looked at him and dropped the dishtowel she had been holding, hands going up to cover her mouth in shock. “ _My baby!”_ she cried and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, sobbing loudly into his shoulder. Jongdae clung to her, feeling like a little kid again.

Hearing the commotion, Jongdae’s father came out to see what the fuss was. “Jongdae!” he exclaimed, wrapping both Jongdae and his mother in another hug. Jongdae was man enough to admit that he started crying as well. He had missed them so much and was relieved to see that they were both okay. He had been worried that the Government would find and hurt them to try and figure out where Jongdae was.

He stayed with them for the three days, telling them all that had happened since they last saw him, while his mother fed him enough food to make his stomach hurt.

His father had of course been shocked to learn that Jongdae was a magi, but was fully accepting, watching with childlike fascination as Jongdae showed him his lightning.

Surprisingly, not much had actually happened after he had left. The Government had searched the entire city for them but had of course been unable to find them. After that, his parents hadn’t heard anything else. No announcements had been made to the kingdom regarding the war and they hadn’t even been able to feel it.

Though he had shown his ID card to get into Paneia with Minseok, the guards on duty had luckily not been able to remember where Jongdae was from and thus had not been able to find his family. That had to be the only reason why the Government hadn’t hurt his parents.

To explain their disappearance, his parents had told everyone that Junmyeon and Jongdae had gone on a trip to another city on some official business and that they didn’t know when they would be back. Everyone had believed them easily.

It was nice to just sit down and be able to talk everything through, Jongdae feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. So much had happened in such a short period of time and he hadn’t had the time to fully process it all yet. His parents listened attentively, offered their own inputs and encouragements and he slowly started letting go of everything that had worried him. It was very therapeutic.

He of course also told them all about the knights, and – while blushing – about Minseok. His mum had been over the moon and he’d had to promise her they would meet some day.

Though it was nice to see his family, Jongdae found himself missing the knights. Missing Minseok. So, when the time came to go back and meet Junmyeon, he was, of course, sad to leave his parents, but also excited to see his friends again.

Junmyeon was already waiting for him by the gates and they left Paneia together through the gate, no one chasing them and with the soldiers saluting.


	27. Citrine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you guys, this is the last chapter before the epilogue can you believe it? It seemed like only yesterday I started posting this though it has been months. I just want to thank you all for your support and your lovely comments, I have really enjoyed reading them and they have given me the inspiration to keep writing.  
> As always, I hope you like it ^^  
> ~ M

**Chapter XXIV**

_**Citrine** _

 

”How are you feeling?” Minseok asked from where he was watching Jongdae take off his shirt to get changed. The leader was holding a familiar charcoal tunic with silver linings, ready to hand it to Jongdae.

   “Nervous,” Jongdae admitted with a shaky smile.

   “Don’t be, it’s gonna be fine. You’re already one of us, it’s just a formality,” Minseok reassured. He touched Jongdae’s shoulder lightly, running his fingers down the Human’s bare back, tracing the still pinkish scars and Jongdae shivered at the Nymph’s cold fingers touching the tender skin.

   “They look better,” the Nymph said quietly. “Yixing did a good job.”

Jongdae turned around and grabbed Minseok’s hand, kissing the knuckles. He knew the Nymph still blamed himself though it had never been his fault in the first place.

Yixing had healed them both after the war had ended but they would always have the scars as a reminder of what had happened in Caelcar.

He smiled softly at the leader, pecking his lips before grabbing the tunic and putting it on.

While he adjusted the tunic, Minseok wrapped a black cloak over his shoulders, fastening it across Jongdae’s chest with a silver crest – the Onyx Lei Tree of Life, the same crest he knew was on the back of the cloak.

Jongdae looked at himself in the mirror, feeling pride swell in his chest. This was actually happening.

   “It suits you,” Minseok said, pride shining out of his eyes. He made one last adjustment to Jongdae’s cloak then nodded when he was satisfied with how it looked. “You ready?”

   “I am.”

Jongdae took Minseok’s hand and they walked out of the room. They were at the Onyx Lei headquarters which was located at the point where the three Sprite kingdoms met.

It was a huge castle-like building, built like the Elven castles with white woven wood and coloured glass in the windows, the Faeries contributing by having covered every available surface with vibrant and fragrant flowers. Most of the furniture was made of the same dark wood you would see in Nymphian towns, and water streams ran through the building randomly – either freely or covered by a glass floor. It was a meeting point of the three kingdoms – now four, as Junmyeon and Jongdae were the first Humans to join the order in centuries.

The others were waiting for them outside the room. It took a while for Jongdae to realize that Junmyeon was there as well as he too was wearing the uniform – looking quite handsome actually. It was weird seeing him in it, Jongdae not used to seeing him in anything but Human- and for a part Elven clothes, but Jongdae also felt so proud.

They had made it.

   “Looking good,” Jongdae said approvingly and Junmyeon grinned. “Right back at you.”

A knight Jongdae didn’t recognize showed up and motioned for them all to follow her. They were led out of the building and out into a huge square lined with flowering trees and gorgeous water fountains. In the middle was a stage where the five top leaders of the order stood waiting for them – the distinct royal blue hair of the Supreme Leader standing out.

Because most knights of the order were still stationed around the realm, the square was rather empty but Jongdae did manage to spot Hyunwoo and his squad. They waved excitedly as they passed them on their way to the stage, Minseok in front. Jongdae held his head high as they walked through the crowd, allowing himself to feel proud of himself and his squad. They had done a good job and though it wasn’t necessary, it was nice to be recognized.

Standing on the stage, looking down at all the faces looking back up at him felt surreal. The Supreme Leader stepped forward and started speaking, but Jongdae zoned out, suddenly feeling more nervous than excited.

He scanned the area, his mind focusing on stupid things like how the sun reflected off the water fountains, creating a rainbow in the mist, instead of worrying about everyone’s eyes being on him.

His eyes landed on Hyunwoo and his squad again, and he had to bite back a smile as Minseok and Hoseok jumped up and down enthusiastically, waving their arms like little kids. Seeing friendly faces helped ease his nervousness.

   “It’s thanks to these brave young men that we were able to prevent a disaster. Many lives were lost and they will be mourned, but because of Minseok and his squadron, many lives were saved. So, it is my honour to present them with this medal of honour, so the world can see what they have done for us,” the Supreme Leader finished, Jongdae quickly turning his attention back to her.

A knight beside her stepped over, holding an open glass box with the medals in. It was a silver star with a gem embedded in the middle and two slim, sky blue silk ribbons hanging from it. The gem was an orangey brown, though at the same time iridescent with all the colours of the rainbow. It was a fire agate, which Minseok had explained meant courage and honour.

One by one, the Supreme Leader shook their hands and fastened the medal on their tunics, reaching Jongdae and Junmyeon last.

   “Thank you,” she said as she shook Jongdae’s hand, smiling kindly.

   “We just did what was right,” Jongdae said, feeling a little embarrassed suddenly. He had never thought they would get this much attention. They really only had done this because it was the right thing to do, never even thinking it would give them any glory or attention. Though he was proud of what they had done, he for some reason also felt guilty. If they had been faster, they could have saved more lives. And there were other knights out there who had fought just as hard.

The Supreme Leader smiled at him, squeezing his arm before moving on to Junmyeon last, thanking him as well. She then faced the crowd and stepped forward. “Now, before I let you all go, we have another matter to attend to. I am very happy to announce that we have two new exemplary additions to our order, also finally uniting our four kingdoms.”

Another knight stepped forward, holding another glass box, in this one lying two gloves without the gems.

Junmyeon and Jongdae kneeled before the Supreme Leader, their friends stepping back to give them their place in the light. The Supreme Leader put a hand on each of their heads and spoke in an old language that wasn’t even spoken any longer. Usually, the knights would study the language while training before getting knighted, just enough to understand the oath, but Chanyeol and Yixing had only had time to give the two Humans a crash course so they knew what to answer.

It was them promising to put others’ needs before their own, to serve bravely and honourably for the rest of their days for as long as they were needed.

When it was over and they both had sworn their oaths, they were handed their gloves and they stood up to a thunderous applause, their friends cheering loudly, drowning out everyone else.

   “Now time for the best part,” the Supreme Leader grinned.

⬣

Jongdae’s eyes widened as he looked around the cave. Every inch of the rocky walls was glittering in the light of the torches, colourless crystals littered across every surface. Junmyeon let out a small breath of awe beside him.

   “Go on, find your gems,” the Supreme Leader encouraged, stepping back out of the cave to give them some privacy.

This was the most anticipated moment of being knighted they had told Jongdae – receiving your gem was the final step in truly becoming an Onyx Lei knight and the gem would forever be yours.

The crystals in the cave were magic – no one actually knew how or why they had grown, or how they really worked. It had been the first Supreme Leader of the order that had first come across the cave during the time he was trying to found the order. Out of all the crystals, only one had drawn him in and he had decided to keep it. Later he had accidentally used his magic on it and watched in wonder how it had changed appearance.

Wanting to know more, he had gone back to the cave. There he had discovered how the crystals seemed to grow like apples on trees, how they were all connected by some type of magic and how they only seemed to draw in magi – someone without magic not finding that same connection.

And now, lifetimes later, Jongdae was about to become one of so many knights who was a part of this cave.

Hesitating, not knowing where to start, Jongdae took a couple of steps deeper into the cave. His eyes ran over the countless of different crystals. Did he just pick one or? He wasn’t sure what to look for.

He scanned over the wall, trailing his fingers over the rough surface when something caught his eye. It wasn’t any different from the other crystals – colourless and kinda clumpy, not that special, but something drew him to it. Slowly, he reached out and grabbed it, the crystal surprisingly easy to free from the surrounding stone. It felt cold in his hands and he fiddled with it for a while before remembering what he had to do.

Closing his fingers around it, he shut his eyes and let lightning run through him and into his palm. When he opened his eyes again the gem now felt warm, and when he looked at it, it was no longer a colourless and clumpy crystal, but a clear vibrant yellow, oval-shaped gem.

He held out his gloved right hand and clicked the gem into place, his stomach swooping with excitement. It was official. He was a knight of the Onyx Lei order.

Junmyeon had already returned and was waiting with the Supreme Leader when Jongdae found them. The older boy raised his hand, proudly showing off the blue teardrop-shaped gem on his glove. Jongdae raised his own hand, and they grinned at each other.

Their squad was waiting for them when they exited the cave and the two Humans were swarmed with excited questions to show off their gems.

Minseok grabbed Jongdae’s hand and admired the yellow gem, smiling at Jongdae. “It’s very fitting,” he said. “I’m so proud of you.”

   “Thank you,” Jongdae smiled back, leaning in to steal a kiss. The other knights whooped loudly and Jongdae rolled his eyes at them. “Get used to it.”

There would usually be a feast to celebrate a knighting but there was still a lot of work to be done, so Jongdae and Junmyeon had been promised they would be celebrated another time. Something Jongdae was totally fine with, not comfortable with all the attention anyway. It made him feel a little uncomfortable. He would much rather just celebrate with the squad around the campfire with some good food and some honey mead.

   “Now, as much as I would like to stay and relax for a change, we’re needed in a village not far from here,” Minseok said, now back in his role as the leader.

Back to business, everyone nodded and they headed to the stables where their horses had already been saddled and packed for their journey.

They saddled up and set out on their new course. Wide open fields and rolling hills of lush green grass stretched out before them, the blue sky seeming endless and the sun beating down on their backs. No more suffocating cities, no more stone walls. This was where Jongdae belonged – out in the open with endless opportunities.

   “Come on, let’s go!” Chanyeol yelled excitedly. “Last one has to clean up after dinner!”

   “You’re on!” Baekhyun challenged, their horses taking off at a blinding speed.

Jongdae looked at Minseok with a mischievous smile and though the Nymph shook his head, Jongdae could see the fire in his eyes. Seconds later the Nymph flew past him, Jongdae quickly urging Ráka to follow.

He laughed loudly, feeling breathless as he chased after Minseok.

It felt like he was flying across the ground, the wide-open fields full of possibilities as they set off on their never-ending journey. 

                                                          


	28. Epilogue: Lightning and ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you guys this is it. The final ending of this story. I just want to thank you all so so much, I've gotten more support on this story than I ever imagined. If you remember I originally wrote this story for a good friend of mine like a year ago, but she hasn't actually read it yet, so having you all taking the time to read and leave such lovely, supportive comments has really made it all worth it for me in the end. You've given me back my love for writing and I can't thank you all enough. 
> 
> For the final time; I hope you guys will like it ^^ xx   
> ~ M

**Epilogue**

_**Lightning and ice** _

 

_~ Months later ~_

 

   ”Can I take off the blindfold now?” Jongdae whined again, ignoring how Minseok huffed in annoyance.

   “No, I’ve already told you that you can’t know the way,” the Nymph explained patiently like he was talking to a small child. “Keep it on until I say otherwise.”

   “But where are we even going?” Jongdae asked, smirking because he knew he was pissing the leader off.

   “It’s a surprise,” Minseok sighed. “Though I’m beginning to regret it now. Be quiet.”

Pouting exaggeratedly, Jongdae did as told. He nearly stumbled and fell over something and he just knew that Minseok had done it on purpose. Scowling, he struck out his tongue at the leader.

From what he could feel he was walking on soft ground like grass or moss, but he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that they were in Aupherisea.

Minseok had come to him a couple of days earlier and asked if Jongdae wanted to go somewhere with him – just the two of them. They had been on a job near the Aupherisean borders, so Minseok suggested that they visited his kingdom. Jongdae had been a little suspicious as Minseok had seemed fidgety and almost shy. Like he was embarrassed over something.

And now Jongdae was blindfolded somewhere in the Nymph kingdom, having no idea where he was or where they were going. Minseok had told him that the path was a secret to any outsiders, so the last many hours of the journey had been with a blindfold. He knew that the Nymphs were very secretive, but this… oh well. He just hoped they were there soon.

   “We’re here,” Minseok said, Jongdae frowning as the Nymph’s voice shook. Why was he so nervous? Just where were they?

Jongdae felt Minseok untie the blindfold and he blinked against the sudden light, having seen nothing but darkness for hours. His eyes watered up so it took a couple of seconds for him to be able to see his surroundings.

When he finally did get a look around, his jaw dropped. He was surrounded by hundreds of flowering trees – some bursting with colourful flowers, others having a crown of lush green leaves. The forest floor was covered in a soft carpet of moss which lay bed to even more flowers in all shapes, sizes and colours imaginable. Glittering streams cut through the forest like silver ribbons, bubbling merrily, and a sort of mist hung over the forest like a thin veil, making everything shimmer in the sunlight. Pure magic thrummed around them like a constant heartbeat – steady and calming.

He had never seen anything like it.

He turned to Minseok with wide eyes. “What is this place?”   

   “The Sacred Forest,” Minseok said, fidgeting with his hands, avoiding Jongdae’s eyes. “Where we Nymphs live. Where my Soul Flower is.”

Jongdae looked around in awe. Every tree and flower were connected to a Nymph somewhere. He remembered hearing about the Sacred Forest but never had he thought he would get to see it. No outsiders were supposed to take even a single step into the place, so why was he here? “It’s amazing,” he said to Minseok. “But… why?”

Minseok blushed, cheeks and ears flushing a red Jongdae had never seen on him before, and grabbed Jongdae’s hand, dragging him a couple of steps forward.

   “This is my flower,” he mumbled shyly and Jongdae looked down to where he was pointing.

The flower was about as tall as Jongdae’s hip and had multiple flowers lining the green stems. The flowers themselves were small and bulb-shaped, their edges sort of frilly and the colour faded from a deep purple to a lavender towards the middle of the petals.

Jongdae didn’t know anything about flowers, but if he was to choose one for the Nymph in front of him, it would be this one – it just fit him somehow.

   “It’s gorgeous,” he said softly, reaching out but not quite daring to touch the delicate-looking petals.

Only humming in response, Minseok fumbled with something in his pocket and eventually managed to pull out a hollow glass ball on a chain. One look and Jongdae suddenly realized why they were there. His heart skipped a beat then sped up, hammering against his ribcage.

   “Minseok,” he breathed, eyes wide and not knowing what to say.

   “I know it’s cheesy.” Minseok let out an embarrassed laugh that ended up sounding a little hysterical. “But I want you to have this.”

He handed Jongdae the glass ball before reaching out and carefully plucking off a single flower from the stem, Jongdae winching slightly at the quiet snap, and he wondered if the Nymph could feel it.

Jongdae held out the glass ball and Minseok gently placed the flower in it, sealing the two halves with a small click. He curled Jongdae’s fingers around it, holding the Human’s hands in his own.

   “It’s something Nymphs give to someone they… care very much about,” Minseok mumbled, cheeks flaming. “I’ve never met someone like you. I’ve never… felt this way about someone before. So, I want you to have it.”

   “I’ll keep it with me always,” Jongdae promised, voice slightly wobbly. Never good with expressing his feelings, he leaned in and kissed the Nymph softly, hoping he would understand that Jongdae felt very much the same.

Minseok was essentially giving away a part of his heart and soul to Jongdae, trusting him to keep it safe, and Jongdae would do anything to prove that he could trust him. That he was worthy of his feelings. 


End file.
